Pokemon Kanto Chronicles
by thedudeabies
Summary: a retelling of the classic Pokemon story. Join Ash on his journey to become the gratest trainer in all of Kanto
1. Chapter 1

Chapter 1

"Ash come on wake up" Delia Kachem said as she shook her son Ash a boy around ten years old awake "mmm just four more minutes" he said groggy " you wait that long and you won't get your first Pokemon " she told him. Instantly his eye shot open.

Ash jumped out of bed. "Mom! Why didn't you tell me sooner!" He ran to put a jacket over his pajamas. "I'm going to lose the Pokemon I wanted!"

Deliah shook her head as her son ran out without saying goodbye.

* * *

Ash ran through the streets of Pallet town, narrowly dodging others in his way. "Today is the day," he thought to himself. "Now, I begin my dream in becoming a Pokemon mast..." Well deep in his thoughts Ash didn't notice another boy in front of him and rammed right into him, knocking them both on there butts.

"Hey watch it Ash!" The other boy yelled, obviously irritated.

"Sorry Gary, I was distracted there for a moment." Ash said embarrassed of what just happened.

"What's your hurry any way?" the other boy, Gary, asked as he picked himself back up and holding out his hand for Ash to take.

"What does it look like? I'm going to your grandpa's lab to get my first Pokemon!" Ash said as Gary helped him back to his feet.

"Wait, you? Sorry, but I'm going to get there first!" Gary took to running in the same detection Ash was heading.

"Hey!" Ash shouts as he chased him.

The two kept pushing and shoving each other all the way to their destination, eventually they ended up locking hands and began to try and push the other away. "Wow you two haven't even gotten your Pokemon and your all ready battling each other." The two stop fighting and turned to the source of the voice. A girl about there are age stood in front of the door to the Lab. She had brown hair wearing a blue shirt and Red mini skirt and a white hat. She also had a yellow bag hanging over her shoulder.

"Leaf!?" They shouted at the same time. "What are you doing here?" Asked Ash.

"What? You think you two are the only ones in town aiming to become Pokemon trainers?" She replied, mildly annoyed. She then pulled out a Pokeball and held it out for them to see. "Anyway I just received my first Pokemon: this adorable little Bulbasaur! So if I were you to I would get in there before someone else comes by and takes the rest." Leaf then put the Pokeball back in her bag and just walked passed Ash and Gary.

After a few seconds of acquired silence the two the sprinted tore the door eventually getting themselves stuck in the door frame. After a few struggles they manage to get free and fell down on the floor. "What is going on here?" the two looked up to see an old man in his 60's with gray hair and wearing a white lab coat.

"Professor!" "Gramps!" the two boy's then got to their feet and turned to the old man. "Are we late?" The both questioned in unison.

"Relax boys! There are still Pokemon for both of you," Professor Oak said as he gestured for them to follow him. Ash and Gary sighed in relief as the followed him into another room "However I'm afraid that another trainer just came in a few minutes ago and has chosen my Bulbasaur so I'm afraid that your opinion are limited to Squirtle and Charmander" the Professor said. He then stopped and then showed them a table where two Pokeballs say "Now choose carefully" he said.

"I'm going to go last, Gramps." Gary said, smirking. If Ash chose Charmander, Gary would get the type advantage over him!

"Well, I've already made up my mind last night." Ash declared. "And I've decided to choose:" as Ash chose a Pokeball, he let out a white light. A red, lizard like Pokemon was inside and had a bright fire lit at the end of its tail.

"Char!" It declared.

"Charmander will be my starter!"

"Excellent choice!" Professor Oak agreed. They were all good Pokemon, but the Professor knew that they were all excellent choices for starting trainers.

Well Gary, I guess that leaves you with Squirtle" Professor Oak told his Grandson.

Gary approached to pick up the pokeball containing Squirtle with a smirk. "Squirtle is perfect. If Ash chose fire I will choose water"

Gary then opened the Pokeball releasing the little turtle Pokemon inside. "Squirtle! Squirt!" The blue Pokemon cheered as it laid eyes on Gary.

"Wow this is so cool!" Ash said kneeling down to pick up his Charmander, which in turn, started to lick his face. "Haha! And friendly too."

"Well Gramps, I'd love to stick around but I'd like to get started right away," said Gary as he returned his Squirtle to it's Pokeball and began to head out the door.

"Wait!" Oak held out a hand. "Before you two go, I have something for you that might come in handy." Professor Oak then went to one of his work desks and grabbed two small computer looking things.

"What are these," asked Ash as the Professor handed each one to him and Gary.

"It's called a Pokedex. It's my latest invention. It's a high-tech encyclopedia that contains information on all the Pokemon in the world!"

"But Gramps, it's empty, shouldn't it have all the information down?"

"Oh no Gary. The Pokedex will scan a Pokemon, then fill itself up on all the known data about that particular Pokemon. As you know, new ones are being discovered every single day! The ones in Kanto may be just a small fraction of the world known Pokemon."

Ash decided to test it out he opened the cover of the screen and ran it over his Charmander It read.

Species: Charmander

Type: fire

Level: 5

Attacks: Scrach, Growl, Ember

Weakness: Ground, Water, Rock

Bio: Charmander, the Lizard Pokémon. Charmander's health can be gauged by the fire on the tip of its tail, which burns intensely when it's in good health.

"Wow that's so cool" Ash said amazed at what this little devices could do.

"well Ash, Gary I wish you both the best of luck" Profesor Oak said

"Thanks Professor" Ash said as he returned Charmander to it's Pokeball and left out to door to start his Pokemon journey.


	2. Chapter 2

Ash ran excitedly to his house, wanting to get everything ready for his trip. He ran inside with enthusiasm, nearly slipping on the "Welcome" mat his mother had.

"Ash, what are you doing?" His mother chided, seeing her son nearly fall to the ground before he managed to recover.

"Sorry mom," he said, standing back up and dusting himself off.

"So did you get the Pokémon you wanted?" Delia asked.

"I sure did! Check it out!" Ash then pulled the Pokeball out of this pocket and released the Pokémon from within.

"Charmander!" It cried excitedly.

"Oh, how cute," Delia said as she knelt down to get a better look at it. "Looks like you're almost ready to go. I made sure to pack your backpack for everything. Extra clothes, Rubber gloves, Extra food and water bottles; everything a trainer needs when they're first starting out!"

"Thanks Mom," Ash said as he opened his backpack and began to put on his comfy clothes over his pajamas. When he was done, he was now dressed in a pair of jeans, a white t-shirt, a red vest, and a pair of Black fingerless gloves. After he was all dressed up, he threw his Backpack over his shoulder and returned Charmander to its Pokeball. "Well Mom, I guess this is goodbye. I will miss you." Ash said as he went up to give his mother a hug.

"I'll miss you too sweetie," Delia said half sobbing. Just then something clicked in the back of her mind. "Oh! I almost forgot!" She then ran to the closet and began to rummage around a bit before pulling out a small box covered in dust.

"What's in there Mom?" Asked Ash.

"This is a gift from your father. It's something he wanted you to have when you began your journey." His mother said, handing him the box.

Ash opened it as his eyes widened when he saw what was in it. "It's Dads lucky hat," he said pulling out a red cap with white on the front as a green symbol right in the center of it.

"He originally intended to give it to you himself," she then turned to a small table that had a shrine dedicated to her late husband, "but as you know that's not possible right now." She said sniffing a little.

Seeing this Ash placed a comforting hand on her arm "I miss him too mom."

"I know sweetie. He would've loved to see you today..."

* * *

As Ash began to track through the forest, he was stopped by a rustling in the nearby bushes. Soon a Pokemon that resembled a Bird with light brown feathers and a cream colored underbelly flew out and landed only a few feet from where Ash was standing.

"A Pidgey," he said as he pulled out his Pokedex and scanned it. The data on the screen read:

Species: Pidgey

Level: 3

Type: Normal/Flying

Weakness: Electric, Ice, Rock

Bio: Pidgey the tiny bird Pokemon. It is a common sight in forests and woods. It flaps its wings at ground level to kick up blinding sand.

"Well, if I want to be a Pokemon master, I'm going to need more Pokemon, and that Pidgy will be my first recruit," he said to himself pocketing his Pokedex and retrieving Charmander's Pokeball. "Charmander go!" Ash yelled as he threw the Pokeball. Charmander came out letting out a cry of excitement as it was ready for its first battle. The Pidgey saw this and got into an attack position.

"Charmander, use scratch!" Ash shouted and Charmander ran at the Pidgy and swung its little claws at it, but the Pidgy flew up, avoiding the attack. Then flew straight at Charmander. "Look out Charmander!" Ash cried. Luckily, Charmander was able to narrowly dodge the attack.

"That was close," Ash thought to himself. "Now Charmander, use Ember!" And with that, said Charmander took in a deep breath and shot out a barrage of sparks from its mouth. However, the Pidgey flapped its wings so hard it, caused a gust of wind that blew up sand to put the sparks out, some of it getting into Charmander's eyes.

Charmander began running around, screaming in pain while wiping its face to get out the sand. "Hang on Charmander, I got this!" Ash said as he threw a spare Pokeball at the Pidgy.

It was thrown with weaker force than wanted, and as such it only landed near the Pidgey. Startled by the object, the Pidgey flew away.

Ash returned his Charmander to its Pokeball, looking at it with a sorrowful look. "I'm sorry Charmander, I promise to be more careful with you next time, alright?" He told the Pokeball, hoping that Charmander could hear him.

* * *

The next day, Ash was racing through a field of tall grass when he spotted something scurrying through the grass, it looked like a large rat with purple fur and a cream colored underbelly and feet.

"A Rattata. Charmander go!" He sent Charmander out again and began to give his commands. "Use growl!" He ordered as Charmander let out a high pitched scream that caused the Rat like Pokemon to cover its ears. Seeing their chances, Ash gave out his next command. "Now use Scratch!" Charmander then ran up to the Rattata and smack its face with its claws. The Rattata then came and tackled Charmander. However, it wasn't strong enough to do some serious damage, thus only sending it sliding back a few inches.

"Are you okay Charmander?" Ash said in concern. Charmander just nodded it's head "Alright then, use Ember!" And with that, Charmander once again shot sparks from its mouth. However, the Rattata reacted quickly and dug underground escaping the attack.

"It used Dig!?" Ash said in both shock and amusement, but then remembered that this left Charmander vulnerable. "Be careful Charmander, it could come up from anywhere!" And so they waited for it to come up, and after a few seconds, nothing happened. "I guess it's not coming back up," Ash said disappointedly.

* * *

The following day, Ash was sitting down on an old tree stump pondering over his journey so far. "Aww! I can't believe it! I been a Pokemon trainer for three days and haven't caught a single Pokemon! What am I missing here?" he asked himself. Soon his thoughts were interrupted by a rustling in the bushes behind him. Ash turned and got ready for whatever it was and soon he got his answer.

From the bushes came what looked like a rabbit or a large hamster it had yellow fur with brown stripes on it's back pointed ears with brown tips, a lightning bolt shaped tail, and red cheeks. "What kind of Pokemon is that?" Ash whispered and let his Pokedex scan it.

Species: Pikachu

Level: 4

Type: Electric

Weakness: Ground

Bio: Pikachu the electric mouse Pokémon. They live in forests away from people. It stores electricity in its cheeks for zapping an enemy if it attacks

"So it has similar weaknesses to Charmander," Ash observed, "but it's an electric type, and would be able to defeat Gary's Squirtle easily!" He sent out his Charmander.

he Pikachu saw this and got into an attack position. "Alright Charmander use..." But before Ash could issue out his commands, he noticed the Pikachu seemed to be wobbling as if it was having trouble staying up until it eventually fell over on its side.

Shocked by this, Ash ran over to see if it was okay. But as soon as the Pikachu saw him approaching, it let out a burst of electricity that zapped Ash. "Hey! What you do that for? I'm trying to help you!" Ash said slightly annoyed. Luckily, that discharge seemed to take a lot out of the little Pokemon, as it didn't seem to send out another attack and just laid there panting heavily. This, however, gave Ash a better chance to examine it closer.

"What's wrong with you?" He asked investigating the pokemon's body. He gasped when he finally saw what made the pokemon so weak.

"What is that?" He asked, pulling it out to get a closer look at it. It looked like a dart, but before he knew it something shot out of the bushes trapping Ash in some kinda net. He struggled to get free, but the more he struggled the tighter it got. "What the heck is going on?"

Soon his answer came in the form of joyous laughter as three figures ran out of the brush to were Ash was now lying. There was a woman with unnaturally long pink colored hair, wearing a white half shirt, with an equally colored miniature pencil skirt, along with knee-high boots and elbow length gloves. The other was a man with dark blue hair, he also wore a white uniform only his consisted of a long sleeve shirt and pants. The third one was a bipedal cat-like Pokémon, with light tan fur, light brown paws, and what looked like a coin on its forehead.

"We did it! We did it!" They cheered in unison.

"Finally, we got it," the woman said with glee. "After all this time, the Pikachu is finally ou... what!" She soon stopped once she saw what was really in the net.

"Grrr, James you dolt!" She shouted at the man. "That's not the Pikachu!"

"Hey, it's not my fault! I had the Pikachu in my sight! That kid must have gotten in the way at the last minute." The man replied sounding slightly scared.

The woman growled in frustration as she stomped towards Ash, grumbling something under her breath. Ash felt scared as he had no idea what this woman was going to do to him. This soon turned to shock when he saw her pull out a switchblade knife. Ash began wiggling trying desperately to get free as she approached him. "Hold still kid," the woman snarled as she began to cut the net. As soon as it was done Ash threw the net off and began scooching away. "Easy there. Young man are you alright?" she asked him this time sounding calmer.

"Uh..." was all Ash could say, as he was now confused at what was going on now.

"Good." The woman said as she helped Ash to his feet and began to gently, yet forcefully, pushing him along. "Now why don't you just run along and forget this ever happened? In fact, why don't you just forget you ever saw us"

As soon as she said that Ash stopped and turned to them. "Hold on a minute who are you guys?" He asked in a demanding voice

"W-well..." the woman struggled to find words but then the man cut in for her.

"We're nobody, really. We're just simple Pokémon trainers like you!"

This, however, did not convince Ash. "Oh yeah? What kind of trainers catch Pokémon with nets and tranquilizer darts?" he asked.

"Whadda you care how we catch 'em?" This time it was the cat-like Pokémon that spoke

"Ah! A talking Meowth!" Ash shouted.

"Meowth, be quiet!" James scolded through his teeth.

The Woman just rolled her eyes at her two companions. "Look kid, we've been trying to catch that Pikachu all day. Now if you know what's good for you, you will turn around and leave."

"No! I'm not going to let you crooks have this Pikachu!" Ash said as Charmander jumped next to him. "If you want it, you'll have to go through me!" Ash and Charmander then got ready to battle.

"Fine but don't say we didn't warn you. Go Ekans!" the woman shouted as she threw a Pokéball. Out came a purple Rattle Snake like Pokémon with yellow eyes.

"Koffing you go too!" Yelled James, as he too, threw a Pokeball releasing a purple, smoke bomb-like Pokémon.

"Hey! Two against ones not fair!" shouted Ash, remembering the league rules about one on one Pokémon battles.

"Well, there's one thing you should know about us kid: We don't play fair." said the Meowth.

Ash gritted his teeth, but commanded Charmander to use a widespread Ember, hoping to hit both Pokemon.

The two crooks ordered their Pokémon to scatter to avoid being hit. "Ekans use bind!" the Woman shouted.

The snake-like Pokémon then coiled itself around Charmander, and began to squeeze tight. So tight, that Charmander was starting to turn blue and cough out. In a panic, Ash quickly said: "Charmander! Try biting it!" Hearing its trainer's commands, Charmander bit Ekans as hard as it could. This seemed to work as it loosened its grip allowing Charmander to escape.

"Koffing! Unleash your sludge on that Charmander, quickly!" The blue haired man ordered.

The floating pokemon obeyed, unleashing a dark greenish-purple sludge from its mouth towards the lizard Pokemon.

The sludge struck Charmander in its face, and goo the burned its eyes. Charmander ran around screaming, trying to wipe the sludge off its face, but it was too sticky.

"Now Ekans, use Headbutt!" At its master's command, the Ekans struck Charmander with a powerful attack, sending it tumbling to the ground. Charmander tried to get up, but was too weak.

Ash then ran to his Pokémon, scooping it up in his arms and seeing if it was okay. While he was making sure his Charmander was okay, the trio cheered with glee.

"Ha! We won! The Pikachu is ours!" The man chimed.

"Yeah! And we'll be taking your Charmander as an added bonus!" the Meowth cut in.

"Over my dead body!" Ash shouted back at them pulling Charmander closer to him.

"Alright then, you asked for it! Ekans, Koffing take care of this little brat!"

The two Pokémon leaped to attack the young trainer. Ash held Charmander tight and braced for the worst, but then the unexpected happened.

Summoning what strength it had, the Pikachu leaped and then shot a bolt of lightning from its body so powerful, that it zapped, not only the two attacking Pokémon, but their trainers as well. And after a few more shocks an explosion sent the criminals flying well they cried out: "Looks like Team Rocket's blasting off!" and with a ping, they were gone.

Ash then looked up and saw that he was untouched. He then noticed the Criminals were gone and the Pikachu was standing there.

"Pikachu...you saved our lives." Ash thanked the little mouse Pokémon. His joy was short lived as he once again, he saw the Pikachu collapse. Gasping he returned Charmander to its Pokeball and ran to the Pikachu. It was alive at least, but its breaths were coming out slow and shallow, most likely from using up all its energy.

"Don't worry Pikachu I'll get you some help" Ash then picked up the Pikachu in his arms, but this time it didn't shock him. He began to run in the direction of the nearest town.

 **AN: thanks for reading this and feel free to revew or PM me for any questions you might have. Also Special thanks to** **SneaselXRiolu and NK for helping me wright this you girls are the best**


	3. Chapter 3

Ch3

I must say Leaf, that is quite the accomplishment." Professor Oak told the young girl who had called him on a PC in the Pokémon Center in Veridian City.

"Thanks Professor!" she replied back

"Just remember if you ever go over the limit of Pokémon you can care for, you can always use a PC to transfer them to my lab!" He informed her

"I will! Thanks again!" She finished as she hung up.

Just then, a loud sound of the Pokémon Centers door being thrown open with great force started her and everyone else present. It was then fallowed by a familiar voice crying: "Help! Help! Somebody, help me!" Leaf turned around as soon as she heard the voice, and it was actually who she thought it was.

It was Ash but he looked like he been running for hours nonstop. He also held a small, yellow Pokémon in his arms. He ran to the front desk were the Center's nurse took notice of him.

"Take it easy young man. What's the problem?" she asked

"It's this Pikachu! It's in bad shape." He said holding out the small Pokémon to her.

"Let me see..." the nurse said, taking the Pikachu and examining it. "Oh my. It does look rather roughed up. Don't worry, we'll have it all better in no time," she informed him with a smile.

"Thanks" Ash said weakly.

"Is there anything else I can do for you?"

Just then Ash remembered his Charmander. He'd been so caught up in helping the wild Pokemon that he nearly forgot his own partner Pokemon! "Oh yeah!" he said reaching into his pocket and pulled out a pokeball. "My Charmander is hurt really bad too!" He gave the nurse the pokeball containing his Charmander.

"Well, don't you worry. Both your Charmander and Pikachu will be fighting fit in no time." the nurse replied as she took both Pokémon in the emergency room.

Ash sighed and walked towards the Waiting Area to sit down

"Hey, Ash!" The voice got his attention and he was surprised to see who it was.

"Leaf! Fancy meeting you here."

So what was with all the hysterics earlier? " Leaf asked

"Well, I came across this Pikachu in the forest that was being attacked by a trio of criminals." Ash explained.

"That's horrible!" Leaf replied.

"Yeah. They ganged up on Charmander, and just as they were about to take it away, the Pikachu let out a Thunderbolt!"

"Thunderbolt? Really?"

"Yeah!"

"That's incredible that the Pikachu saved your life!" Leaf said.

"Yeah, it really is. So what about you, how's your journey been?" Ash asked

"Well, so far I managed to capture a Venonat, a Sandshrew, and a Weedle, along with training my Bulbasaur." Leaf said

"Wow! That's awesome Leaf!" Ash said, very impressed

"What about you? Have you caught any new Pokémon?" Leaf asked him

"No, I haven't."

Just then a series of beeps went off and then Nurse Joy emerged from the ER romm holding a tray with one Pokeball on it "Young man, your Charmander is all better." She said, sweetly.

"Oh, thank you!" Ash said with great joy as he went to retrieve the Pokeball. "What about Pikachu? How's it holding up?"

"Your Pikachu isn't doing so well. We had to hook it up to our generator to replace a lot of the displaced electricity."

"That doesn't surprise me, the bad people who were attacking it said they been chasing it all day," Ash informed her.

"That's horrible! Who were these people?' Nurse Joy asked.

"Well, I didn't catch their names but they," Ash then stopped as his attention was drawn to three wanted posters on the wall next to him. "Hey, that's them!" He pointed at the posters, and sure enough, they were the same criminals he encountered.

"You mean you had a run-in with them?" Nurse Joy said sounding concerned.

"Yes, who are they?" Ash wondered.

"Their names are Jessie Musashi, James Kojirō, and a Meowth. They're part of a criminal organization called Team Rocket, they steal and poach Pokemon and sell them to collectors and other criminals." Nurse Joy informed them.

"I can't believe the things people will do for money!" Leaf scoffed at the thought of these people.

"fortunately these three haven't been reported to have done anything too awful, most of their victims come in with only small cuts and bruises, reportedly from the trainer trying to fight back against the trio even after their own Pokemon have fainted, though they themselves are no killers it seems."

Ash felt some small relief, knowing they hadn't actually hurt anyone too basely, he knew they would come after him again, but at least he didn't have to tell his mom he was being chased by murderers.

"However" nurse Joy began again, "While those three haven't been known to go to such measures, I can't say the same for all of team Rocket's members, if you see any of them, be careful."

* * *

Ash and Leaf sat in silence waiting for the Nurse to give them news on Pikachus wellbeing when Leaf decided to to break the silence "so what do you Plan to do with Pikachu after this?" She asked Ash.

"Well I'm probably going to let it go," Ash said.

"that's too bad because an electric type would be useful on your team," she told him.

"I know but after what happened I don't think it would want to be around people," he said sounding a little disappointed in his decision as he would have like to have that Pikachu on his team.

Just then Nurse Joy came out of the ER room and Ash and Leaf stood up in anticipation "How is it?" they both said in unison.

"Your Pikachu is just fine but it will still need some more rest but will be good to go in the morning," she informed them, and they just signed in relief.

"Thank you, Nurse Joy," Ash thanked her.

"Just doing my job," she said with a smile.

* * *

The next morning, Ash and leaf were woken up by Nurse Joy who had a fully recovered Pikachu in her arms. And after handing it to them she wished them the best of luck on their journey as they left the Pokemon Center into the Viridian forest.

As they made their way through the forest They were suddenly stopped by three figures.

"Ta-da!" they said in unison and they jump out from the bushes

"Not you three again!" Ash said, with anger in his voice.

"Yes, and we're here to take back what's ours," said Jessie.

"Koffing use Smokescreen!" James commanded as he threw his Pokeball as his Koffing came out and unleashed a cloud of smoke from its mouth.

While Ash and Leaf were distracted James ran up and grabbed Pikachu from Ash's arms, immediately throwing it into a transparent container that kinda looked like a fish bowl. Pikachu's cheeks sparked up as it unlessed a blaze of electricity but nothing happens "Ha! We're not a dumb as you think we are, this baby's coated with rubber!" Meowth taunted. Once the smoke cleared Team Rocket was gone, and so was Pikachu.

"Hey, get back here!" Ash yelled as he and Leaf chased after them.

"Weedle use string shot!" Leaf cried as she threw her Pokeball and a little worm-like Pokemon with a horn on its head came out. It shot a string of silk from its mouth that snagged on to James' leg causing him to trip and drop the container that held Pikachu. As he fell he knocked over Jessie, who in turn fell on Meowth.

"Good work, Weedle!" Leaf congratulated her Pokemon before returning it to its Pokeball. Jessie got back up and then as she too pulled out her own Pokeball.

"Ekans attack those twerps!" Her purple, snake-like Pokemon came out of its Pokeball and hissed at the two kids causing them to skit to a halt.

"Ekans, use Wrap!" The snake Pokémon prepared to lunge at the trainers, but instead, Leaf's Weedle ended up taking the hit, as Ekans began to coil its body around it.

"Weedle!" Leaf exclaimed, worried. Ash meanwhile, quickly sent out his Charmander to help out, hoping to free the Weedle.

"Scratch that Ekans, Charmander!" The Charmander did exactly as it was told, making Ekans recoil in pain, releasing Leaf's Weedle.

"Hey now, two against one-"

"Isn't fair?" Ash cut Jessie off before she could finish her sentence.

Annoyed that what had happened last time was being used against her, Jessie angrily turned to James. "Help me out here!"

"Oh, right, Koffing use Sludge!" James said and he threw his own Pokeball releasing his Koffing.

"Koffing!" It said as it then began to spit out balls of slime at Charmander which it quickly dodged, not wanting to relive what happened last time.

"Ekans take out that Charmander, use Bite!" Ekans lunged forward as Charmander was too distracted dodging Koffing Sludge to notice.

"Oh no you don't! Weedle use Tackle!" Leafs Weedle then jumped up striking Jessies Ekans in the face.

With the amount of force Weedle put into its body led to it doing critical damage to the Ekans, which collapsed to the ground. Jessie gasped and began biting her nails. With no other option to even things out, she turned to Meowth. "You there, come help us!" Jessie demanded.

"Alright, alright, you don't have to shout!" Meowth jumped into the battle, knowing that the most a puny little Weedle could do was just poison him, but it was better than being burned like what Koffing was dealing with reason now.

"Payday!" Meowth mewed, slapping the Weedle with his paws and making coins scatter. In the process, however, Leaf called out Weedle's next attack.

"Bug Bite him Weedle!" Once the Meowth made an impact, Weedle latched onto Meowth and began nibbling him. Freaking out over Weedle biting at him, Meowth tried to shake him off.

"Koffing, Smog them!" The Koffing weakly puffed out some smog at Charmander, but was slowly succumbing to the burns from Charmander's Ember attack. The Charmander though, ignored the poison cloud and swept at Koffing, knocking it unconscious.

"Well, that's not good!" Jessie whined.

"Let's just grab the Pikachu and run for it" James suggested, Jessie nodded her head in agreement and returned Ekans, James did the same with his Koffing and mad a run for Pikachu. But before he could grab it, Ash jumped in front of him and grab the container holding Pikachu and opened it, freeing the little Pikachu.

Pikachu jumped out of its prison and its cheeks began to spark, readying an attack. "No! Not again!" The trio said in unison. Pikachu then let out a powerful electric attack, and just like before Team Rocket was sent flying.

"Uh, are they going to be okay?" Leaf asked, watching as a shine could be seen where Team Rocket flew.

"They survived that the last time, so probably," Ash replied, checking on Pikachu. "Alright little guy, go on back into the woods." The Pikachu stood there, ears twitching. "Go on, this is your home, isn't it? What's the matter?" The Pikachu looked into the forestry of its habitat, then back at Ash, who was confused.

"Pika!" Instead, the Pikachu came back to Ash, standing near him, which puzzled Ash even more.

"Aw, Ash, I think that Pikachu wants to come with you!" Leaf said.

"But why?" Ash asked. "I figured it would hate the idea of being captured after what happened."

"I think it trusts you better than anyone else here. You saved it from those criminals twice, and brought it to a Pokémon Center to be healed. I think that Pikachu probably wants to return the favor since you helped it!" Leaf then noticed something off about her Weedle, which was spitting silk. "Weedle? Are you okay?"

Suddenly, by complete surprise, the Weedle shot up silk around its body, a glow surrounded it too. Eventually, a hard casing was formed around the Weedle as it evolved. "I don't believe it! Weedle, you evolved!" Leaf laughed, picking up the newly pupated Pokémon. "Or should I say, Kakuna, amazing!"

The Kakuna made a pleased, quiet noise for its trainer, while Ash glanced at it. "Weedle evolves that early?"

"The Bug Pokémon in the forest evolve really fast, you should try catching one!" Leaf advised. "That's one of the reasons I've been looking around the forest."

"Cool! Maybe I'll look into catching one of these. Thanks for your help, Leaf. Good to know your Weedle- uh, Kakuna is really loyal to you!"

"Actually, it's just really protective-"

Before Leaf could finish that sentence, the Kakuna extended claw-like barbs from its shell, and jumped at Ash. "Wah! Get it off!" Ash shouted, as the Kakuna attempted to sting him with the barbs, stuck to Ash's clothes.

"Kakuna, no!" Leaf scolded, pulling him off. "I'm sorry, like I was saying when it feels I'm being threatened, it jumps out! My other Pokémon don't do that thankfully."

Leaf then returned her Kakuna to it's Pokeball and as soon as she did Pikachu started tugging at Ash clothes. "What is it Pikachu" Ash asked, as he noticed Pikachu was pointing at something. Ash look toward the direction it was pointing at and saw a green caterpillar-like Pokemon just inching its way across the ground.

"Wow, a Capterpie!" Ash exclaimed as he pulled out his PokeDex and scanned it.

Species: Capterpie

Type: Bug

Leval: 4

Weakness: Fire, Rock, Flying

Bio: Capterpi the Worm Pokemon. Its short feet are tipped with suction pads that enable it to tirelessly climb slopes and walls.

"Well, Ash look like it's your lucky day!" Leaf said.

"It sure is," Ash replied as he turned to Pikachu. "What do you say Pikachu? Up for another battle?" Pikachu nodded its head. "Alright, let's go!" He shouted this seemed to get the Caterpie's attention as it turned to him and got ready to attack. "Pikachu, use Thundershock!" and with that Pikachu leaped into the air and prepared to attack.

The lightning bolt hit the Capterpie and instantly paralyzed it, Ash then threw a spare Pokeball, hitting the little worm before sucking it in. Once the Capterpie was caught the Pokeball began to shake a few time until it dinged, indicating that it was captured.

"Yes, we did it Pikachu! We caught a Caterpie!" Ash shouted in joy, as he ran up to a Pokeball picking it up and holding it in the air triumphantly.

 **AN: again just want to give a big thanks to my Bate Readers SneaselXRiolu and KN for helping me wright this and also like to give thanks to Starkiller141 for helping me come up with some of the ideas thank you guys you were a big help. also please feel free to Review and PM me.**


	4. Chapter 4

Ch4

Having added both a Pikachu and a Caterpie to his Pokemon team, Ash headed back to Viridian City to complete in his first gym battle however upon arriving Ash is met with some rather disappointing news.

* * *

"Gym closed!?" Ash said in both shock and anger as he looked at the sign hanging on the front door.

"Yeah, apparently the gym leader's away on business or something." Ash turned to see his rival Gary standing behind him. "Granted, it's not like a beginner like you could beat a gym leader anyway," Gary said in a mocking tone.

"Hey, you're a beginner too!" Ash spat back at his rival.

"Maybe, but you don't understand Pokemon like I do" Gary added.

"Is that so? Well, I have three pokemon now!"

Three!? Ha ha ha!" Gary burst out laughing. "I already caught six!"

Ash was taken back by that but still kept a determined look. "how many you caught doesn't mean anything! It's how you use them!" Ash said.

"Care to prove it Ash? Then, why don't we have a battle" Gary said his voice full of confidence.

"Alright, then and I choose..." Before Ash could make his decision, Pikachu jumped out in front of him. "Pikachu, you want to battle first?" Pikachu turned to its trainer and nodded. "Alright, I'll go with Pikachu! What about you Gary? Are you going to go with your Squirtle?"

"Ha! Against an electric type? How dumb do you think I am? No, I got something better..." Gary pulled out one of his Pokeballs and pulled his arm back to throw it. "Let's go Eevee!" he shouted as he threw the Pokeball and out came a Fox-like Pokemon with brown fur with some white around its neck and on the tip of its tail.

"Eevee!" It said in a determined voice.

"Whoa, an Eevee!" Ash exclaimed as he pulled out his Pokedex.

Species: Eevee

Level: 5

Type: Normal

Weakness: Fighting

Bio: Eevee, the evolution Pokemon. It has the ability to alter the composition of its body to suit its surrounding environment.

"Wow, how did you get one of those?" Ash asked in amazement.

"What, you think you're the only one who can catch a rare Pokemon? Now are you going to stand there gawking or are you going to fight?" Gary questioned, a little irritated.

"Hey look! There's a Pokemon Battle about to start!" Soon, a group of people gathered around to watch the fight.

"Pika!" Pikachu challenged, sparks already coming out of its cheeks.

"Eevee, use Quick Attack!" Gary started, as the Eevee zipped past Pikachu, getting a critical hit on it. The Pikachu was knocked back, but managed to inflict some static onto the Eevee, paralyzing it. "Aw, shoot! I don't have a Paralysis Heal! Eevee, try to pull through this!" Both Eevee and Pikachu mildly staggered, neither willing to give up so easily.

"Pikachu, Thundershock!" Ash called out, as the Pikachu tried to shock its opponent. The Eevee then kicked sand in Pikachu's face, hoping to deter it from attacking, which it did. "Huh!?" Pikachu attempted to get the sand out of its eyes, unable to see well because of it.

"Good work, Eevee!" Gary laughed. "Now finish it off with a Tackle!"

Eevee then tackled Pikachu with all it's might knocking it right on it's back. Pikachu tried to get up but couldn't

"Come on Pikachu get up," Ash pleaded but Pikachu was too weak.

"Good job Eevee!" Gary congratulated his Eevee as he knelt down to scratch it behind the ears which it enjoyed "Ha and here I thought you would be more of a challenge," Gary bragged as he returned his Eevee to it's Pokeball.

Ash gritted his teeth, knowing that he shouldn't push Pikachu too hard. "You did your best, Pikachu, I'm sorry." walking over to pick up Pikachu, Ash sent out Caterpie next. "Go, Caterpie!"

"Growlithe!" Gary yelled, sending out the small dog Pokémon, which had stripes on its body.

"Wha? Where did you get that!?" Ash exclaimed.

"Got it in a trade from someone who wanted a Mankey. Pewter Gym is kind bad for fire-types, and they wanted a fighting type instead." Gary snickered. "I figured a Pokémon this rare shouldn't go to waste!" As Gary was gloating, Ash took a quick moment to scan the Growlithe.

Species: Growlithe

Level: 6

Type: Fire

Weakness: Water, Rock, Ground

Bio: It's very protective of its territory. It will bark, bite and use fiery attacks to repel intruders from its space.

"Fire?" Ash gulped, as the Growlithe immediately used Ember on the Caterpie, an attack that it was weak to. Caterpie tried to use String Shot on the small puppy, but the threads were immediately burned away by the Growlithe, who jumped out to use a Bite attack this time.

"Look out Caterpie!" Ash cried as Growlithe jumped on Caterpie. Growlithe chomped down on nothing but string soon enough, as Caterpie had launched its String Shot right onto the Growlithe's mouth. Gary was absolutely stupefied, while Ash cheered. "Alright, Caterpie! Now Tackle him!"

"Oh no you don't," Gary started, "Ember!"

The strings around Growlithe's jaws only fueled the flames, as they came spewing out towards Caterpie, making the bug-type Pokémon faint with a critical hit. Once Caterpie fell, Ash was astonished, forced to make Caterpie retreat. "Fine then, we'll fight fire with fire then!" Ash shouted.

"Not a chance, go, Squirtle!"

Once Ash had sent out Charmander, Gary made Growlithe return so he could take Squirtle out. "This'll be too easy!" Gary laughed.

"Charmander, Scratch!" Charmander tired to scratch Squirtle but its shell was too hard. "Tackle" Squirtle then knock Charmander back but it was able to get back up "Use ember" Ash shouted

"Bubble" Gary ordered Squirtle The bubbles slowed down Charmander, and did damage as they popped on him. Charmander struggled to get back up, determined to take Squirtle down, as it suddenly slid on sunglasses, laughing at Charmander.

"Don't celebrate just yet. Squirtle!" Gary then made his next and final command, which would settle the battle. "Use Water Gun!" A small blast of water came from Squirtle's mouth, which made impact with Charmander, knocking it out once and for all. "Hah! I knew you couldn't cut it!" Gary taunted Ash, who was distraught.

"No way," Ash muttered, "I wasn't good enough to beat him?"

"How weak! I battled a trainer with more skills than you, but then again I'm far too good and awesome too!" Gary bragged. Ash just stood there dumbfounded at how easily all three of his Pokemon were beaten. "You just attack, and attack, your too predictable!" Gary insulted. "You might as well go back home Ash clearly you not cut out to be a Pokemon trainer, let alone a master!" Gary said as he walked off.

Geez, what was up with that guy?" One person said in the crowd. "Talk about rude, where's the sportsmanship?" As Gary walked away, the Squirtle with sunglasses blew raspberries at the fainted Charmander, before running off so it could be returned to its Pokéball.

Ash knelt down, petting the unconscious Charmander before making it return. "Let's go, Charmander," Ash sighed. Just before he began to walk away though, the crowd was parting, however, one member of the crowd started to follow Ash.

* * *

After taking his Pokemon to the local Pokemon Center Ash had taken a seat on a bench, still depressed about what just happened. Pikachu feeling sorry for letting Ash down began to nudge him to get his attention. As soon as Ash looked down at his Pokemon Pikachu gave him a sorrowful look Ash just gave slite smile and patted Pikachu on the head letting him know he wasn't mad at it if anything, Ash was mad at himself.

"I just don't get it, Gary and I should be at the same level, how did he beat me so easily?" He said to himself.

"No, clearly your opponent had more experience." That voice startled Ash and he turned around to meet its owner, a young man in his twenties he had tan skin, dark brown hair and squinty eyes, he was also wearing an orange T-Shirt with a green vest over it and brown jeans.

"What do you mean by that? We started at the same time." Ash told the man.

"That may be, so but he has a much stronger bond with his Pokemon," the stranger told him.

"I have a bond with my Pokemon!" Ash shouted.

"Really? Tell me, what do you think battling Pokemon is really about." The stranger then asked.

"It about becoming stronger and being able to beat anyone," Ash answered, but this seemed to not impress the older boy

"I guess that boy was right you don't have what it takes to be a Pokemon trainer," he responded.

Ash was taken back by that "What then what is it really about then if you're so smart?" Ash asked, getting pretty irritated with this guy.

"that is for you to figure out on your own," the young man said before he turned around and began to walk away. "If you want my advice try battling more, it usually helps."

Those words stuck in Ash's head. What did he mean by what Pokemon battles were really about?

* * *

While traveling down Route 2 with Pikachu walking by his side Ash couldn't stop thinking about what that guy had said.

"Hey kid!" A voice that seemed to come out of nowhere brought Ash out of those thoughts. Although he referred to Ash as kid, he appeared to be shorter than Ash himself and was wearing a baseball cap backwards along with some shorts. "I challenge you to a Pokémon battle!"

"Huh?" Ash said, blinking in confusion.

"You can't refuse!" The kid then tossed a Pokéball. "Go, Rattata!"

Out came the small, rat-like Pokémon, and with little options, it seemed that Ash would have to accept the battle. "Okay then, let's go, Pikachu! Thundershock!" Jumping out, Pikachu started by shocking the other Pokémon, already doing a decent amount of damage to it. The Rattata winced, and tried to bash Pikachu with a tackle, but it was evaded.

"Rattata, use Tail Whip!" The boy shouted as his Pokémon whipped its tail around Pikachus leg tripping him. "Now Rattata use Tackle!" The Rat like Pokémon then charged at Pikachu.

"Pikachu use Thundershock!" Ash shouted and Pikachu let out an electric shock which caused Rattata to faint before it even reached Pikachu.

"Darn it!" The boy made Rattata return, then sent out his next Pokémon, which was purple, had long ears, and a horn on its head. Having never seen it before, Ash took out his Pokédex.

Species: Nidoran Male

Level: 5

Type: Poison

Weakness: Ground, Psychic

Bio: Nidoran, the poison pin Pokémon. Its large ears sense danger. It extends its toxic spikes when angry. The size of its body thorns indicates its toxicity.

"Ah," Ash hesitated, wondering who to should face this Pokémon. "What do you say Pikachu, think you can Handle this one?" he asked.

"Pika!" Pikachu nodded.

"Alright, let's do this!" Ash said.

"Nidoran, Poison Sting!" The kid yelled, his Pokémon's horn began to glow purple as it lunged forward and stabbed Pikachu in the chest. Pikachu soon began to wobble back and forth unable to keep steady. "Now Nidoran, finish it with Horn Attack!" Nidoran charged forward ramming Pikachu head on, knocking it on its back.

"Darn it! I'm sorry Pikachu, hold on, I'm not letting you faint!" Making Pikachu, Ash then sent out Caterpie next, which seemed almost reluctant to fight at first. "Caterpie! Aim for the horn and use String Shot!"

Surprised at the order, Caterpie did just that, covering Nidoran's horn with the sticky substance. Right on cue too, since Nidoran was about to lunge at Caterpie, but the attack was softened by the string coating its horn. Distracted, the Nidoran tried to get it off, and use the spines on its body to inflict poison sting instead.

However, the attempts were moot, since Caterpie was faster, tackling into Nidoran a few times before it fell down. "Aw, no!" The boy complained. "I lost! Darn! I was hoping I would get Nidoran to learn Double Kick soon if I raised it!" After the battle, the boy hung his head low, but Ash seemed to be confused.

"What's wrong kid?" Ash asked.

"I wanted to get my Nidorans level to rises so it could learn Double Kick," the boy said, half sobbing.

"I'm sorry. I'm sure it will learn it at some point... What is Double Kick?"

"A fighting type move," the boy explained, wiping the tears out of his eyes. "I wanted Nidoran to learn it so I can face the gym in Pewter City."

"I see," Ash said before something else came to mind "Hey where can I catch a Nidoran?"

"Well, since you won I guess I can tell you," the boy slowly started to cheer up. "Just east of Viridian City is where I found mine, are you interested in finding one?"

"Yeah, it's a pretty cool Pokémon you have there!" Ash complimented, lifting the boy's spirits. "And don't worry, I'm sure your Nidoran is going to be great! It gave me a hard time for a second."

"Hey, what's wrong with your Caterpie?" The boy asked, taking note of the strange glow around it.

"It's evolving!" Ash said in excitement. As soon as Caterpie stop glowing, in its place was a green moon shaped pokemon.

"Metapod," it said, Ash then pulled out his Pokedex to scan it.

Species: Metapod

Type: Bug

Weakness: Fire, Rock, flying

Bio: Metapod, the Cocoon Pokémon. Metapod is the evolved form of Caterpie. Using a hard shell to protect its body, it prepares for its next evolution.

"Wow, Caterpie you're a Metapod now!" Ash cheered as he ran up to pick up his newly evolved Metapod.

"Congrats!" The boy cheered for Ash. "Well, I may not have won, but someone else's Pokémon evolved because of me I guess."

"Actually," Ash said, "I think that battle lifted my spirits a bit thanks to you."

"Really?

"Yeah, I was a little down earlier."

"Well, don't give up then!" The boy said. "I'm going to keep trying harder, so you should also, okay?"

"Sure thing! What's your name?"

"Joey!"

"Thanks, Joey, I'm Ash Ketchum. I'll make sure to remember out encounter!"

With that, Ash, with higher spirits, went to find himself a Nidoran, with the newly evolved Metapod now by his side.


	5. Chapter 5

Ch5

"Pidgey, go!" Ash yelled, as he threw a Pokeball, releasing his newly captured Pidgey.

"Ha! Let's see you do this! Go, Beedrill!" Another young trainer, who had challenged Ash to a Pokemon battle, said as he threw a Pokeball unleashing a rather large Bee like Pokemon with drill like hands,

"Beedrill, use Twinnedle!"

"Gust it away, Pidgey!"

The small bird did exactly that, kicking up a gust of wind just as the Beedrill launched itself at the Pidgey. The damage was mighty, as the Beedrill was knocked onto the ground. Pidgey stared down at its foe, awaiting the next command. "Alright, now finish it off with a Tackle attack!"

Pidgey swooped down, but Beedrill moved out of the way. "Yes!" The boy cheered. "Now, Beedrill use poison sting!" And with that, Beedrill aimed its stinger at Pidgey, and dived right at it, stinging and ejecting it with Venom

"Pidgey no!" Ash cried. Pidgey was swaying all around, trying to keep itself steady. "Hang in there, Pidgey." Ash said to his Pokemon

"Pika Pika!" Pikachu also shouted its own words of encouragement.

Pidgey got back up, a look of confidence in its eyes, not letting the poison deter it. Kicking up a Sand Attack to blind the Beedrill's eyes, Pidgey was harmed by the poison, but not enough to back down just yet. Beedrill missed its next strike, which allowed Pidgey to use Gust one last time, sending Beedrill to the ground.

"No way!" The boy stammered, nearly tripping over himself before making his Pokémon return. "You just got lucky there with the type advantages, that's all!" He then smirked, "but you still haven't seen my best Pokémon yet! Go, Butterfree" this time the boy sent out a purple butterfly like Pokémon.

As usual Ash pulled out his Pokédex and scan it

Species: Butterfree

Type: Bug, Flying

Weakness: Electric, Ice, Fire, Rock, Flying

Bio: Butterfree the Butterfly Pokémon and the evolved form of Metapod. In battle, it flaps its wings at high speed to release highly toxic dust into the air.

"I see... so that's what Metapod will become." He then looked over at his Pidgey and saw it was still talking the effect of the poison. "Pidgy, you've done enough, return" Ash said as he returned Pidgey to it's Pokeball. He then began to think about what Pokémon he should use.

In hindsight it would make sense to send Pikachu or Charmander because of type advantage but Ash felt he should give another one of his new Pokémon a chance.

"Go Nidoran" Ash threw the Pokeball and out came a purple rabbit like Pokémon with a horn on its head and one row of spikes running down its back.

"Hah! What's a measly Poison-type going to do against my Butterfree?" The boy asked. "Butterfree, Confusion!" Flashing its eyes, the Butterfree unleashed a small telekinetic attack on the Nidoran from afar. Nidoran managed to shake off the force though, and leaped at Butterfree, awaiting Ash's command.

"Nidoran, use Peck!" Ash called out, which lead to Nidoran jabbing the Butterfree with its horn, but the other trainer had a move of his sleeve.

"Stun Spore him!" At the trainer's command, the Butterfree unleashed spores from the scales of its wings, paralyzing the Nidoran with them. "That's right, now your Nidoran won't be able to move!" Indeed that was the case, but the Nidoran stood still as it was paralyzed, as if waiting for Butterfree to strike again. "Okay Butterfree, now use Bug Bite!"

Butterfree swooped down, sinking its tiny fangs into the Nidoran, only to be met with a very foul surprise as it drew back, looking uneasy. "What the? What happened!?" The trainer soon realized that his Butterfree had been poisoned, from biting onto the spines which covered the Nidoran.

"Good work with that Poison Point!" Ash complimented Nidoran. "You did great, but I'm going to pull you back for now, so you don't have to worry about that paralysis. Go! Charmander!"

"Charmander!" The little lizard Pokemon shouted, ready for battle.

"Charmander, use Ember!" And at its trainer's command, Charmander shot sparks of fire from its mouth hitting the Butterfree.

The Butterfree ended up being no match, it was succumbing to the poison as well as Charmander's attacks, and finally fell on its back, unable to fight anymore. "Aw man!" The boy complained.

"Yes! You did it Charmander!" Ash said as he ran to Charmander picking him up and spinning him around.

The other boy returned his Butterfree to its Pokeball and looked at it. "You did the best you could, Butterfree" he then walked up to Ash and held out is hand to congratulate him. "Well Ash, you beat me fair and square."

Ash then took the kid's hand and shook it. "Thanks! You were pretty good yourself!" Ash complimented.

* * *

At the Pewter City Pokemon Center...

While waiting for his Pokemon to be healed, Ash was checking out the display of prehistoric Pokemon skeletons and fossils but the one that fascinated him the most was the one called Kabutops. In his eyes this one was the coolest. An insect like Pokemon with long scythes, said to be the ancestor of Scyther, another species of Pokemon that had long scythes.

"Young man, your Pokemon are fighting fit! Thank you for waiting patiently." The Center's nurse called to him.

Ash walked up to the front desk to collect his Pokeballs, and let Pikacchu jump onto his shoulders. "Thank you so much!" Ash said.

"Not a problem. We hope to see you again!" the Nurse said before going back to her work.

"Did you hear? Some kid just beat the Gym leader, Brock, today!" Those words got Ash's attention as he then turned to the two girls who wore talking.

"Really?"

"Yeah! This kid mopped Brock's entire party with a Squirtle! It was insane!"

"Wouldn't he have to use a lot of potions though?"

"Well, duh. Brock is still pretty hard to beat, even with a type advantage!"

Oh great, so Gary had gotten to Pewter Gym before Ash could, and probably already got his first badge while Ash was dawdling around. But if Gary had little trouble, then it wouldn't be too hard for him either, right? That's what Ash thought, in order to keep things positive.

* * *

As Ash walked up to the Pewter City Gym. As he walked up to the door, he was stopped by two teenagers. One was a boy and the other was a girl. "Hey kid, where do you think you're going?" Said the girl.

"I'm going to challenge the gym leader," Ash told her.

"Hah! You're light years away from challenging our brother, kid!" Said the boy.

"I'll show you! I'll challenge you to a Pokemon battle! If I win, you have to let me in!"

"Hey, what's going on?" A voice Ash had heard before said. And when he finally got a look at the culprit he was shocked. "Well, look who it is. I was wondering when you get here." Said a tan skinned young man.

"You're the one who said I wasn't raising my Pokemon right!" Ash shouted. "You mean to tell me, this whole time you are-"

"The Pewter City Gym leader," the older boy cut in. "so tell me have you figured out what battling Pokemon is truly about"

"Well to be honest no I don't think I do" Ash said

Brock was about to say something until Ash interrupted him. "But I have been taking your advice, and battling other trainers, but I still don't think I fully understand," Ash replied sounding a little depressed.

"Well, if you truly want to know, then maybe you should try battling someone with more experience. Like a gym leader," Brock replied.

"You mean you'll accept my challenge? " Ash replied hopefully.

Brock nodded in response. "Of course. As gym leaders, we never turn down challenges from any trainer." He said, leading him into a sliding door.

Once it opened, Ash saw a Pokemon Battlefield with stones all around. Brock's two sibling sat down to watch on a bench on the sidelines.

"Now, I assume this is your first gym battle right?" Brock asked

"Yes," was all Ash said.

"Well, in that case, I'll battle with these two," Brock said as he pulled out two Pokeballs, throwing one that released a Pokemon that looked like a rock with a face and arms.

"Geodude!" It said as it flexed its arms ready to battle.

"Woah! Never seen that Pokemon," Ash said as he pulled out his Pokedex to scan it.

Species: Geodude

Level: 12

Type: Rock/Ground

Weakness: Fighting, Ground, Steel, Water, Grass, Ice

Bio: Geodude, the Rock Pokemon. Found in fields and mountains. Mistaking them for boulders, people often step or trip on them.

"What can I say? Rock types are my specialty. Now, shall we begin?" Brock said pulling Ash attention away from his Pokedex.

"Alright then, Charmander I choose you!"

Once both had their Pokemon chosen, the screen on the left side lit up and showed a split screen with each Pokemon as well as their amount of health that was show with a red bar.

As soon as the screen flashed the words "Begin", Ash was the one to make the first move. His palms were sweating, but he had to stay calm and cool for his first gym battle. "Charmander, use Metal Claw!"

Charmander's claws started to glow as it charged at the rock Pokemon, but Brock was prepared to counter it. "Geodude, use Tackle!" Brock's Geodude lunged forward and slammed into Charmander taking a good amount of its health away.

"Well, that wasn't very good." The girl said sarcastically.

Ash gritted his teeth as Charmander got back up, still willing to fight "Charmander, use Metal claw again!" The second time, Charmander charged at its opponent, claws glowing ready to attack. Unfortunately, Brock has something else in mind this time to defend his Pokémon.

"Geodude, Defense Curl." Geodude curled itself into a ball as Charmander struck. In this stage Geodude still maintained damage but it only lost a few meters of health, Charmander's claws barely made an impact on it. "Now, Rock Tomb!"

All of the sudden, Geodude used its strength to toss boulders in Charmander's direction, trapping the Fire-type Pokémon where it was and draining the rest of its health. Ash was stunned as Charmander laid there unconscious now. "I will give you credit, you were smart to have an attack that's Geodude's weakness, but you need more strategy," Brock explained.

"Charmander return," Ash said returning his defeated Pokemon, knowing that he had to be more careful. "Nidoran, go!"

Once Ash sent out Nidoran, he knew that he definitely he had to carefully plan out his next attack. Surely Brock wouldn't have anything super-effective against Nidoran, would he? Geodude only had a bit of health left, surely. "Double Kick him, Nidoran!" The little monster Pokémon aggressively jumped at Geodude, slamming it twice with its legs. The Geodude staggered, having only a sliver of energy left, but just enough for Brock to command it one last time.

"Geodude, use Magnitude!" Grasping onto the ground below, Geodude began to bang against the floor furiously, creating a miniature earthquake. The quake became strong with each pound, sending Nidoran to the floor, struggling to get back up.

Ash watch as Nidorans Health began to decline 'come on Ash think ' he thought to himself trying to figure out a way to get Geodudes.

"Nidoran, get into a defensive position for a sting!" The Nidoran did just as he was told, spikes sticking out as Geodude kept shaking the ground, inadvertently making the spines shoot off, poisoning the rock Pokémon. As Geodude kept shaking the ground, it eventually had to stop, the poison actually draining away its health.

Brock was surprised when he finally saw Geodude fall to the floor, and made it return. "Well done, that wasn't something I expected."

Ash smiled at this complement "However, you still don't fully understand the concept of battling Pokemon." Brock said as he pulled out another Pokeball "Go, Onix!"

As Brock threw the Pokeball Ash was shocked when he saw what came out, it looked like a giant snake made of boulders. It leered over Ash and Nidoran before letting out a loud roar. "Another Rock-type!" Ash exclaimed.

"Like I said Rock-types are my specialty," Brock replied.

Ash was intimidated by the size of this Pokemon but it should still have the same weakness as other Rock-types. "Nidoran, use Double Kick!" Ash shouted but as he did Brock yelled too.

"Onix, Bide!"

Nidoran jumped up to Onixs face and delivered to kicks to its face and despite Nidoran's size, it was still able to drain half of Onix health. After that Ash waited for Onix to attack next but was surprised that it was just sitting there doing nothing.

"What are you doing aren't you going to attack?" Ash asked.

"I can't, while using Bide Onix can't attack until it's been struck twice," Brock explained.

"But what if it goes down after two hits?" Ash wondered.

"It won't, because I believe in Onix."

That had Ash wondering what the heck he meant by that and was he planning something. But he also knew that he had an advantage if Onix couldn't attack and had half a health bar so all Ash needed to do is deliver one more good hit that should win it.

"Nidoran one more Double Kick!" Nidoran jumped up and delivered two kicks to Onix's face once again, however as Onix's health went down it stopped just a quarter of the way at the end. "What? It held on?" Ash said in shock.

"Yes! Good job Onix. Now, maximum damage!" and with a swing of its tail, Onix swatted Nidoran so hard that it flew across the room, slamming into a wall creating a hole in it. "Nidoran!" Ash yelled in concern he then looked at the screen and saw his Nidoran's health bar go down all the way to zero "What? Taken down in one hit? But how?" Ash questioned.

"Well, using the movie Bide, a Pokemon can deliver twice the amount of damage that it has reserved," Brock explained.

This was going to make things difficult for Ash but on the other hand, Onix only had one bar of health left so all Ash had to do is get in one good shot and Onix would be defeated and Onix looked to be quite slow, so he would need a fast Pokemon.

"Go, Pidgey!" Ash said as he sent out the tiny bird Pokemon. It let out a screech as got ready to fight "Use Quick Attack!" Pidgey flew in the air and straight for Onix.

"Onix, use Slam," Brock ordered and as soon as Pidgey go close enough Onix slammed its tail down on Pidgey taking it out in one hit. Ash groaned in frustration as he returned Pidgey. Clearly, this Onix was faster then he thought so he was going to need to find a way to slow it down.

"Metapod I choose you," Ash said as he sent Metapod out to face the massive Rock Pokemon. "Metapod use String Shot!"

Metapod spit forth a string of silk and covering Onix in the stuff and binding it. "Yes, we got Onix all tied up!" But as soon as he said that, Onix broke free from its restraints.

Ash gasped in shock after that. "Uh, Metapod, String shot again!" But Before it could use its attack Brock gave Onix an order to use Tackle and it rammed into Metapod, and just like Nidoran and Pidgey, its health went down to zero.

"Metapod return." As soon as Metapod was back in it's Pokeball Ash turned to Pikachu. 'How am I going to win this I only have one Pokemon left and that Onix is unstoppable?' Ash wondered to himself. But then he thought back to what Brock said about how his Onix wouldn't go down because he had faith in it and sure enough Onix was able to hold on after being hit by two Double Kicks. This made Ash think, was believing in your Pokemon really enough that it could even help it overcome a type advantage? Maybe it can.

"Alright, Pikachu you're up." Pikachu then jumped into the battlefield

"This is your last Pokemon, so it gets defeated you lose," Brock informed Ash.

"You can do this Pikachu I know you can," Ash told his Pokemon.

"Pika!" Pikachu nodded in agreement. Even though Ash didn't see it but once he said that, a smile spread across Brock's face.

"Pikachu, Quick Attack!"

"Onix, Tackle."

The two Pokemon charged toward each other but they both moved so fast that no one saw who struck first. That is until Onix gave a growl before falling over.

"What!?" Brock's sibling said at the same time as they saw Onix last bit of health disappear and the screen with Brock's Pokemon went gray. The words "Lose" appeared on his section well the words "Win" appeared on Ash's.

"We got him! You did it Pikachu!" Ash cheered in excitement as he and Pikachu ran toward each other and Pikachu jumped into Ash's arms as he hugged his Pokemon.

Brock meanwhile returned his Onix to its Pokeball "You did well, Onix." He told it before walking up to Ash. "I think it's safe to say you finally understand what battling Pokemon is about?" He asked.

"I do, it's not about becoming the best there is and Pokemon are not weapons, their our friends, and when we battle we form a certain bond," Ash said.

"Well, then I can say you definitely deserve this." Brock then dropped a badge that resembled a stone into the palm of Ash's hand.

"Ha! Alright, we won a Boulder Badge!" Ash cheered as he held the Boulder Badge in the air triumphantly while Pikachu cheered along with him.

* * *

As Ash left Pewter City Gym, Brock saw him off and wished him luck on his future gym battles.

"Hey Brock," his sister asked.

"Yeah, Sis?" Brock answered.

"Why did you accept that kid's challenge?"

"Well, he may be an amateur, but he did something other other Trainers I've seen don't," Brock explained

"And what's that?" His Brother asked

"He was willing to learn," Brock replied


	6. Chapter 6

Ch6

"Bulbasaur! Use Razor Leaf!" Leaf ordered her Bulbasaur as it shot sharp leaves from its bulb at a blue Nidoran, which jumped back to avoid it.

Once it was clear, the Nidoran charged forwards, hitting Bulbasaur with its horn.

"Bulbasaur! Are you alright?" Leaf asked in concern.

"Bulbasaur," it nodded back.

"Alright then use Tackle!" Once she said that, Bulbasaur lunged forward striking the Nidoran with great force. The Nidoran drew back in pain, unable to poison the Bulbasaur since it was already a Poison-type itself.

Nidoran then got back in a fighting stance before jumping at Bulbasaur again, about to use its Horn Attack. "Dodge it, Bulbasaur!"

After Bulbasaur evaded the attack, Leaf gave out her next commands. "Wrap it up with your Vine Whip!" Doing so, the Nidoran was bound, unable to break free from Bulbasaur's vines. After a few seconds, Leaf took out a Pokéball and tossed it at the blue Nidoran, making Bulbasaur retract its vines while the Nidoran was still in a daze.

Once the Pokéball captured the Nidoran, the ball struggled for a moment. One twitch, two, then three… then the ball went completely still.

"Yes!" Leaf cheered as she ran over to pick up the Pokeball. "We caught a Nidoran!"

"Bulbasaur!" Bulbasaur shouted as it ran up to Leaf, who embraced it.

* * *

As Leaf prepared to return her Bulbasaur, a shadow flew over her body. It was circular, almost like a balloon. Leaf didn't understand what it was at first glance, until she looked up, and saw the flying object block the sun with its body. It was round, pink, had little arms and legs, triangular ears, and a cute little curl of hair on its head. Leaf hesitated, at first thinking it was an actual balloon someone lost, but decided to see if it was an actual Pokémon anyway by taking out her Pokédex.

Species: Jigglypuff

Level: 8

Type: Normal/Fairy

Weakness: Poison, Steel

Bio: Jigglypuff, the Balloon Pokémon. Looking into its cute, round eyes causes it to sing a relaxing melody, inducing its enemies to sleep.

"Oh, how cute! A Fairy-type? I don't think I've had one of those yet!" Leaf then cheerfully restored the health of her Pokémon with some potions, before tailing after the floating Jigglypuff, which was heading close to the base of Mt. Moon.

As soon as it stopped to take a break Leaf pull out a pokeball and threw it "go Bulbasaur" she yelled as she once again sent out Bulbasaur to do Battle. As soon as the Jigglypuff caught wind of this it turned to face Leaf and Bulbasaur but rather then attack it pulled out a small Microphone and started to sing.

Within seconds, the Bulbasaur became drowsy, as the Jigglypuff was singing. "What the? Oh no! It's singing just like… the dex entry said." She yawned, hearing the sound echo throughout the area. Several Pidgey and Spearow fell from the trees and began to fall asleep. Bulbasaur curled up and began taking a nap, and Leaf did the same.

After a whole minute of the song, the Jigglypuff opened its eyes, looking down at the ones pursuing it, then puffed up. "Puff!" It grumbled. "Jiggly, jiggly, jiggly!" Landing in anger, it popped off the head of the microphone, revealing a marker, and immediately began to doodle on its audience.

As Jigglypuff tripped on one of Leaf's Pokéballs, out came a Kakuna by complete accident. Seeing its trainer being marked up with a marker, Kakuna glared at Jigglypuff, preparing the claws on its arms. Jigglypuff took a moment, looking up to realize just how much trouble it had gotten into.

Launching a Poison Sting in Jigglypuff's direction sent it flying back. Kakuna lightly pinched its trainer with the barbed claws, but not hard enough to sting her. "Ow! What the?" Leaf then looked down. "Kakuna? How did you get out?" Leaf then looked over to the Jigglypuff, which was on the ground, weakened by the Poison Sting.

"Now's my chances" she then threw the pokeball and as soon as it hit the Jigglypuff it sucked it in. The ball began to shake a few times before finally stopping.

As the Pokéball ceased movement, Leaf went over to pick it up off of the ground. "Alright! Jigglypuff is mine!" She giggled, but in the midst of her jumping, the Pokémon burst out, puffed up and irritated. "Huh!?" She exclaimed, looking at the grouchy Jigglypuff. "Hey now, I caught you, you can't just do that!" The Jigglypuff continued pouting, mainly at Leaf and her Kakuna.

"C'mon, get back inside your Pokéball!" Leaf tried to return the Jigglypuff, but it dodged the light which would send it back. Leaf began grumbling in annoyance, and that was when she heard a voice catching up to her.

"Hey, Leaf!" Lifting her head up, she saw Ash and Pikachu. "Uh, Leaf?" Ash asked. "What happened to your face?"

"What about it?" Leaf asked, confused by the question.

"It looks like someone painted glasses on your face. Do you need a mirror?"

"Huh? No way!" Leaf then took out a small compact, which had a mirror inside. Upon seeing what Jigglypuff had done in her short nap, she gasped. "Hey!" Leaf yelled at the Jigglypuff. "Did you do that? That's not funny! I have to wash this off now!" Ash meanwhile, looked at the Jigglypuff, having never seen it before.

"Where did you find that cute Pokémon anyway? What is it?"

"It's a Jigglypuff, a Fairy-type! Don't you know Ash? Fairy-types are great against Fighting and Dragon-types, it'll be good if I run into one of them." Leaf tried to wipe her face off, but the marker wasn't coming off as easily as she hoped. "This Jigglypuff is kind of being sour towards me though, she sang a song, put me to sleep, drew on my face when I passed out, and now she won't stay in her Pokéball!"

"Really?" Looking at the microphone in Jigglypuff's small hands, Ash then looked at his Pikachu, which was confused. "Maybe it got offended over you falling asleep on its song, which is why it drew on you." Kneeling down to the pouting Jigglypuff, Ash tried to comfort it. "Jigglypuff, is that what made you upset?" The balloon Pokémon nodded, glad that someone understood. "Do you not like being in a Pokéball?" The Pokémon nodded again.

Getting up, Ash looked back to Leaf. "I think Jigglypuff doesn't want to be in a Pokéball, Leaf. I think it would rather be out, looking for an audience to sing to. Maybe you should have Jigglypuff follow you, like I do with Pikachu!" Leaf pondered the idea, looking at Jigglypuff.

"Jigglypuff, if I leave you out of your Pokéball, you can't cause any more trouble, okay?" Jigglypuff kept pouting though. "Pleeeease, Jigglypuff! I really want to have you as a companion. I promise I won't fall asleep again in your songs either!" The Pokémon's face lit up, starting to agree to the idea. "Yes! That's more like it! You can help me battle, and I'll leave you out of your Pokéball so you can sing to your heart's content!"

"Puff!" Jigglypuff cheered.

"Thanks, Ash, you've gotten really good at understanding Pokémon, even when they aren't yours." Leaf thanked him, making Ash laugh nervously. "By the way, did you beat Pewter City's gym leader?"

"Sure did! It took a lot of belief in my team, but I managed to defeat him."

"Same here! Brock is a pretty nice guy. I wasn't sure if Bulbasaur could do it even though I had a type advantage, but he told me Bulbasaur would win, so long as I believed in it."

"What about Gary?" Ash asked. "I heard he beat Brock also."

Sighing, Leaf rolled her eyes. He just used Squirtle to wipe Brock's team. Brock actually scolded him a little bit, and Gary brushed it off, complaining to me that Brock was just irritated that he lost. Thankfully, karma bit Gary back later before he went to Mt. Moon." Leaf then started giggling again. "Some guy scammed Gary into buying a Magikarp, and it can't do anything but splash around! He was so peeved about it, and he couldn't get a refund!"

Ash couldn't help but laugh at the image in his head. Normally Gary was so calm and collected, that seeing him angry over being tricked would have been great to see. Too bad he missed out on it. "Wait, you said Mt. Moon, right?" Ash asked Leaf.

"Yeah, it's just up ahead! Some shady figures are there supposedly, but I have to go through there if I want to get to Cerulean City, so I can get my next badge!" Leaf then sighed. "Knowing Gary, he probably already plowed through that place without a care in the world. I suggest you stop at the Pokémon Center before going on ahead."

"Thanks, Leaf!"

"No, thank you, again, this Jigglypuff would probably be out of control if not for you."

Again, Ash couldn't help but rub the back of his head nervously, both trainers had forgotten that Leaf's Kakuna was out, which out of instinct, latched onto Ash with its claws. "Gah!" Ash yelled.

"Kakuna! Not again!" Leaf exclaimed, making the Pokémon return while Jigglypuff began laughing.

"Say Leaf, while we're here care to have a Battle?" Ash suggested.

"A battle?" Leaf pondered the idea. "Well, there's a Pokémon center just ahead, so why not? I'll accept a challenge!" Leaf started off with her newly caught Pokémon, which was standing near her. "Go, Jigglypuff!"

"Pikachu!" Ash called out.

The battle started with Jigglypuff's eyes sparkling, thinking she had an audience, she began singing a song to Pikachu, which began to fall asleep. Before long, Pikachu fell on its face, which led to Jigglypuff becoming irritated, puffing up. "Puff!"

"Great work, Jigglypuff!" Leaf complimented, confusing the Pokémon. "Now use Pound!" Taking the orders, Jigglypuff jumped out and slapped Pikachu awake.

"Pikachu are you okay?" Ask called out.

"Pika!" Pikachu nodded back.

"Alright, now use Thundershock!"

"PikaCHUUUUU! " Pikachu yelled as he let out a spark of electricity that hit Jigglypuff.

"Jig!" Jigglypuff was sent back, tanky enough to take the hit puffing up more in irritation.

"Jigglypuff, use Rollout!" Leaf ordered.

Then Jigglypuff turned on its side and began spinning it started off slow but she began to gradually build up speed be for propelling herself turd Pikachu.

"Pikachu, dodge it and strike first with a Quick Attack!" Ash suggested. Pikachu did exactly that, but ended up being run down by the Rollout just as Jigglypuff was done charging. In retaliation though, Pikachu managed to use some of its Static to paralyze the Jigglypuff.

"Great work, Pikachu!" Calling Pikachu back, Ash then decided to send out Charmander. "Now finish that Jigglypuff off with Metal Claw, Charmander!"

"Char!" The Jigglypuff, unfortunately paralyzed, ended up succumbing to the Charmander's attack. After being knocked down, Leaf called her Jigglypuff back.

"Jigglypuff, return to me," Leaf then sent out her next Pokémon. "Go, Sandshrew!"

"Sandshrew!" The little Armadillo Pokémon squeaked.

"Alright then, Charmander use Growl!" Ash said as Charmander let out a small roar.

"Sandshrew, Sand Attack!" After the Charmander growled, it got a face full of sand slapped into its face, making it cough. "Now use Scratch while he's distracted!"

Sandshrew did just that it jumped forward and smacked Charmander across the face. "Charmander are you alright?" Ash said in concern Charmander just shook off the pain and nodded back in response.

"Hm, alright then! Sandshrew, this time use Magnitude!"

"Don't think so! Charmander, use Bite!"

Charmander jumped on Sandshrew and bit it on the head, the Sandshrew squeaked and tried to shake Charmander off. "Defense Curl, Sandshrew!" Curling up in a defensive position, Sandshrew managed to push Charmander away, increasing its defenses.

"Finish him off with Ember while he's balled up, Charmander!" Launching a blast of fire at the Sandshrew, even the Defense Curl couldn't protect it forever, and the Sandshrew fainted, outdone by the heat of the Ember.

"Return, Sandshrew!" Leaf sent the Sandshrew back to its Pokéball, then sent out a fuzzy, purple Pokémon that had antennae. It looked like a Bug-type, which had a type disadvantage, but Ash wasn't prepared for what this Pokémon would use. "Venonat, go! Disable that Charmander's Ember!"

The small bug then glared at the Charmander, using an energy of some kind to prevent it from spitting out flames. "Huh!? How did you do that!?"

"Disable prevents the last move from being used twice in a row," Leaf explained. "Now, use Confusion!"

"Ven!" The small bug cried out, using brain waves from its mind to knock out Charmander's remaining health.

"Charmander return," Ash said, bringing Charmander back to it's Pokeball. "Go Pidgey!"

"Venonat, Confusion again!" Leaf suggested.

"Don't look into its eyes Pidgey!" Ash ordered.

Pidgey tried to avoid the gaze of the Venonat, so it wouldn't be afflicted by the brainwaves of Confusion. "Venonat, try reducing the foe's evasiveness with Foresight!"

"Not if I strike first!" Ash declared confidently. "Pidgey, use Gust!"

Pidgey then flapped its wing creating a bust out wing knocking Venonat over.

"Aw, shoot!" Leaf then returned the Venonat, trying to think of a strategy. If she sent out Bulbasaur, the Pidgey would still outspeed it. It was best to try to poison the Pidgey and whittle its health down, and Leaf knew just the Pokémon for that. "Nidoran, go!"

Her newly acquired Nidoran get ready to fight as soon as it emerged from it's Pokeball "Wow, you caught a Nidoran too!" Ash exclaimed.

"Wait you have a Nidoran also?" Leaf asked.

"Yeah, I caught it before my Gym battle with Brock," Ash told her.

"Really? Hey, want to see which of our Nidoran is better?" Leaf suggested.

"Okay! That sound cool, Pidgey return!" Ash then brought Pidgey back to it's Pokeball before pulling out a different one

"Go Nidoran!" Ash shouted as he threw the Pokeball.

Ash sent out his own Nidoran next, having a purple color as opposed to Leaf's light blue. "Hm, they almost look like completely different Pokémon, don't they?" Leaf wondered. "Not that it matters right now! Nidoran, use Scratch!"

"Nidoran use Horn Attack!" the two Pokemon ran toward each other, their trainers nervous if their respective Pokemon would get the first hit. However, rather than attacking, the two Pokemon seem to be nuzzling each other.

"Huh? What's going on?" Leaf wondered. "I know Nuzzle is an attack that exists, I looked it up in a library, but I don't think Nidoran can learn it."

"It doesn't look like they're attacking at all!" Ash pointed out. "What's the big idea?"

"I think," Leaf hesitated, taking note of the actions from both Nidoran, "they're in love."

"Huh!?" Ash stammered. "Hey, no being in love during a battle! Come on!" He complained, but neither parties were listening. Pikachu appeared puzzled by this, while Leaf couldn't help but giggle at the sight.

"I guess that ends the battle here then. If they don't want to fight, I see no point in going on."

Ash just sighed as he returned his Nidoran and Leaf returned her own. "Hey Ash, I was wondering since we're both going to Cerulean City, why don't we travel through Mt. Moon together?"

"Together?" Ash wondered.

"Mt. Moon is full of Zubat, and Zubat can confuse your Pokémon or drain their health! Besides, there's also some weird activity going on in there I heard. Best to travel as companions, right?"

"Sounds good to me," Ash replied. "But first, let's stop at that Pokémon Center you mentioned." With that, the both of them continued their stroll, hoping to heal their parties before heading to Mt. Moon, where trouble would be awaiting them.

* * *

Jigglypuff was healed up and on Leaf's head again in no time, pouting at Ash's Pikachu while she stood there. "Leaf, is Zubat a dangerous Pokémon?" Ash asked as they continued their walk to Mt. Moon, facing the entrance.

"Well, it supposedly drains the blood of Pokémon, and when it evolves it becomes more dangerous I heard!" Ash shuddered at Leaf's words, hoping to make sure his Pokémon weren't caught up in any of that. "The weird thing is though, there's also a rumor that some Zubat seek friendship, and something good will happen if a trainer raises their Zubat with love! Anyway, Zubat isn't the only danger in Mt. Moon."

"It isn't?"

"There's also a Pokémon called Paras, which has an ability called Effect Spore! That could cause problems if any Pokémon physically strikes them." After she was done talking, they went through the entrance of Mt. Moon.


	7. Chapter 7

"Well, this is it!" Ash said as the duo stood outside.

"It's really dark in there." Leaf said. "Most nocturnal Pokemon stay up 24/7 in there, from what I hear."

"There's no need to be afraid of the dark, cause I've got, " Ash sent out his starter. "CHARMANDER!" He cheered. The group then made their way into the cave, Charmander holding its tail like a lantern.

"You know, you'd think since people walk through here a lot they would at least install some lights." Leaf commented.

"Well, that could throw the entire cave ecosystem off!" Just then, there was a strange rumbling sound coming from all around them.

"What was that?" They both said soon their attention was drawn to a bunch of screeching sounds coming from up ahead. A swarm of bat-like Pokémon were flying toward them. "Ahhh Zubat!" They both screamed Pikachu and Charmander began to huddle together in fear. But Jigglypuff saw them not as a threat but as an audience to sing to. Without warning, it jumped in front of everyone pulled out its microphone and began to sing.

"Jigglypuff no!" Leaf shouted but it was too late. Ash, Pikachu, Charmander, and Leaf all covered their ears as Jigglypuff began singing to keep themselves from falling asleep. Within just a few seconds, the Zubat all started to calm down, some of them dropping to the ground. It solved the problem of the swarming Zubat at least, but now Leaf had to hold Jigglypuff back so she wouldn't draw on the sleeping bats.

"It's okay Jigglypuff, they heard you loud and clear." She said, trying to calm it down as it as they started to move away from the sleeping swarm.

"I wonder what's got these Zubat so worked up?" Ash thought aloud.

"Maybe it had something to do with that rumbling from earlier." Leaf suggested  
"Yeah, but what caused it?"

* * *

Meanwhile in another section of the cage a large group of people where digging through the cage with picks and drills and even dynamite. They all wore black except for the ones doing grunt work who wore white, but they all had a big red "R" on their shirts.  
"Ugh, this is the worst job I ever had to do!" Jessie complained as she kept swinging her pick at the wall of the cave.

With each part of the cave picked at, the Zubat clinging the ceiling were alerted. One of them woke up, and swooped down at one of the men wearing a black uniform, holding a whip in his hand. "What the?" Turning around, the man struck one of the Zubat with his whip, alerting the rest who were starting to wake up. "Darn bats! How are we supposed to dig up fossils and Moon Stone with them constantly getting in the way?" Tossing a Pokéball, a large, rat-like Pokémon was sent out. "Raticate, deal with these pests while everyone keeps working! Hyper Fang them!"

Even though there were many of the Zubat, they proved to be no match for the large rat Pokémon, especially when it came to Raticate's biting attacks. During all of this, a small, pink Pokémon with wings and a curled tail was watching what was going on, obviously worried.

After all these people just came in and started smashing up everything with there strange tools. It then noticed another man coming from the left, walking next to him was a Growlithe, the pink Pokemon then hid behind a rock but the Growlithe seem to notice it as it then started barking at the area where it was hiding.

"What is it Growlie? You smell something?" James asked as he when over to where his Pokemon was barking at. Becoming nervous, the pink Pokémon panicked and used a Disarming Voice against the Growlithe, damaging it, but making everyone in the cave turn its attention to the Pokémon.

"What? A Clefairy!?"  
"That's super rare!"  
"If we get one of those, we can make a fortune!"

Soon almost everyone in that part of the cave ran after the Clefairy, but it began moving its hands back and forth until it's whole body began to glow and it vanished.

"Hey where'd it go!?"  
"I don't know!"  
"Let's spread out and find it!"

While that was going on Jessie turned to James and Meowth. "Come on! If we catch that Clafairy we can finally get on the boss's good side!"

"Hey, that's a good idea Jess! Finally, no more doing the hard stuff!" Meowth said

"But what if they find out we're missing?" James asked, sounding worried as he made the Growlithe return. "I mean, we're already in enough trouble as it is." James however, was ignored as Jessie and Meowth began sneaking away.

"Come to think of it," Meowth pondered. "Why is Clefairy so wanted anyway? Is it popular or something?"

"Clefairy can only be found on a full moon or hiding in his cave, so it's extremely rare and desired among collectors!" Jessie explained. "Just about any sucker would dish out a lot of money for one. If we find this one, we're most likely to find others hiding in Mt. Moon."

"Fairy-types are also quite powerful allies to have, only a few of them are in Kanto!" James added. "All of them are super rare, so it's best if we get our hands on them since they're so limited in numbers! Now come on, let's move before where spotted."

And with that, the three of them crept out of the room with no one even noticing.

* * *

"You know, if they're not going to put in lights, they could at least put up signs to tell us where we're going," Leaf said as she and Ash continued through the cave.

"Don't worry Leaf, we'll find out way out!"

Just then they heard a strange sound coming from up ahead. "What was that?" Leaf asked a little freaked out.

"I don't know," Ash replied sounding just as concerned. The large shadow appeared in the light of Charmander's tail flame, Ash and Leaf were scared out of their wits, not sure what it was. Even their Pokemon where scared, that is except for Pikachu, who began to move toward the mysterious figure. "Pikachu wait!" Ash yelled as he chased after his Pokémon.

"Ash, hold on!" Leaf said as she ran after him.

"Pika!" Pikachu called out to the shadowy figure. Much to everyone's surprise, when the figure came forth, it turned out to be another Pikachu, having a tuft of hair, unlike the one Ash owned.

"Another Pikachu? Here?" Ash questioned, feeling his fears fade away.

"That can't be right, Pikachu aren't native to Mt. Moon. This Pikachu must belong to someone else." Leaf suggested. The two Pikachu then began to communicate with each other, to explain what was going on.

"I wonder what they're saying?" Ash question while Leaf just shrugged. Soon, Ash walked up to the other Pikachu. "Hey there little guy, are you lost?" He asked it.

"Pika, Pika!" It replied nodding, its head.

"How did he get lost though? Oh well," Leaf then smiled at the other Pikachu. "Would you like us to bring you back to your trainer?"

"Pika!" The other Pikachu cheered in excitement.

"Alright! Let's go find your trainer then, they can't be too far!" Ash said as he, Leaf, and their Pokémon when to find this Pikachu's lost trainer, unaware that they where being watched.

* * *

"Hey, ain't those the kids from the Viridian Forest?" Meowth asked as he Jessie and James were hidden behind a corner

"Yes, it appears fate has given us a break for once," Jessie said.

"Why is that Jess?" James questioned.

"Because now, we can finally show that little brat what happens when he messes with us!" She said in a sadistic voice.

"Oh, give it a rest Jessie. It's not worth it! And besides, isn't there a Clafairy we're supposed to find?" James pointed out.

"I AM NOT GOING TO LIVE MY ENTIRE LIFE KNOWING THAT I WAS BESTED BY SOME PREPUBESCENT PUNK SO WE ARE GOING TO GET THE JUMP ON THAT KID AND WE ARE GOING TO MAKE HIM PAY FOR HUMILIATING US IS THAT CLEAR!?" Jessie stated with much rage, terrifying her comrades.

"Crystal clear!" The other two stammered.

"Besides," Jessie pointed out, starting to calm down. "There's another rare, Fairy-type Pokémon with that girl! We'll not only have a Clefairy, but a Jigglypuff too! Now let's get them!"

* * *

As Ash and Leaf made their way around Mt. Moons complex cavern, they started calling out for the lost Pikachu's trainer. "Hello? Any one? We found your Pikachu!" Ash would say but every time, but there was no reply.

The lost Pikachu started to get a little down because of this, worried about its trainer. "Don't worry, we'll find them eventually!" Leaf said, trying to cheer it up.

"You won't get far in finding them, I'm afraid!"

"That voice!" Ash exclaimed as Team Rocket ran towards them. "You two? Again!? What's going on? Are you responsible for the weird activity going on in Mt. Moon?"

"Meowth! That's right!" Meowth mewed. "All of us Team Rocket members are digging up the fossils in Mt. Moon, and chasing after rare, Fairy-type Pokémon! And we're gonna start by taking that Jigglypuff you have over there!" The Jigglypuff had her attention grabbed by the group of criminals, puffing up in a defensive way.

Leaf then muttered to herself. "I forgot, Fairy-types are really rare in Kanto. There are only three in this region; Jigglypuff, Clefairy, and Mr. Mime. They're all hard to get ahold of though. So that means, you three are trying to collect Fairy-types for profit, aren't you!?"

"That's correct! All the rare Pokémon will go to Team Rocket's Game-"

"James, be quiet! Don't tell them about that!" Jessie scolded. "What's more important right now, is payback for last time! You're not getting off the hook so easily for what happened in Viridian Forest. We'll beat you, then take all of your Pokémon!"

"You can sure try! Ready Pikachu?"  
"Pika!"

"Very well, let's go, Ekans!" Jessie threw her Pokeball, releasing her snake-like Pokémon just like last time.  
"You get in there too Koffing!" James soon followed.

"Sandshrew, go!" Leaf tossed a Pokéball last, unleashing the small, Ground-type Pokémon.

"Ekans use Wrap on that Sandshrew!" Jessie ordered her Pokémon as it prepared to wrap around Sandshrew.

"Oh no, you don't! Sandshrew, Scratch!" Leafs Sandshrew then lunged forward, clawing at the Ekans. The Ekans winced, attempt to glare at the Sandshrew in hopes of paralyzing the Sandshrew, but was foiled by Pikachu using Thundershock on it. The Sandshrew then followed up by kicking up sand in the eyes of the Koffing, preventing it from using Smog.

"Grrr! Ekans use Poison Sting!" Ekans then shot a bunch of poison darts from its mouth that bombarded Pikachu and Sandshrew.

"Now Koffing, while they're distracted, use Tackle!" The sludge-ball Pokemon slammed right into the two others.

"Ha! Take that twerp!" Jessie mocked.

"We're not done yet! Pikachu use Quick Attack!"  
"Sandshrew! Brace those attacks with Defense Curl!" Leaf ordered.

"Shrew!" The Pokémon did just that, shielding itself from the two enemies while Pikachu did damage to Koffing and then Ekans by zipping around.

"Alright, now Pikachu, use Thundershock while they're open!" Ash ordered as Pikachu shot a ball of electricity at them.

"Not this time! Ekans, dodge it and use Bite!" Ekans got the upper hand in spite of the setback, leaping and Pikachu and sinkings its teeth into the mouse Pokémon. Pikachu winced in pain, unable to strike back from how much discomfort the bite had caused.

"Pikachu!" Ash called out.

Suddenly Ekans was surrounded by a glowing energy, and it let go of Pikachu before being lifted in the air, and thrown into Koffing. "What was that? Who did that just now!?" Jessie shouted. Ash's first assumption was Leaf, but it appeared that she had not switched out her Sandshrew for Venonat, so the Psychic energy wasn't coming from her Pokémon. When Ash looked around, he suddenly saw a Butterfree, with the other Pikachu that had a hair tuft calling out to it.

"Pika pi!"  
"Free!"

"Sparky!" A boy exclaimed. "I'm so glad I finally found you! I've been looking all over!"

The Pikachu the ran to the boy who was around Ash and Leaf's, age wearing a green shirt with light green pants he also had a blue hat on. Next to him was a Charmander, who like Ash's, was using its tail to light the way.

"Oh great, another twerp!" Jessies complained as they saw him.

"Geez, what are we gonna do!? Three are against us now!" Meowth pointed out.

"You do something!"  
"What? Me!?"

"You can fight, can't you?" James asked, as Leaf made her Sandshrew return. It was now Ash's Pikachu and the other boy's Butterfree against Jessie and James. "Take care of that weak little girl, Meowth! Surely you can do that!"

Once Meowth was forced to go against Leaf, her newly obtained Jigglypuff jumped forward, itching to fight. Meanwhile, Koffing was unfortunately knocked out by the Butterfree, forcing James to send out Growlithe. "Ember that Bug-type, Growlie!" James commanded.

"Use Gust to blow it away, Happy!" The boy called to his Butterfree who flapped its wings, creating a gust of wind that put out the Ember. "Now use Psybeam!" The Butterfree named Happy then swooped down and fired a colorful beam at the Growlithe.

"No! Growlie!" James cried out as he ran over to his Pokemon. "Are you okay?" He asked as his Growlith just barked in response.

"Oh, come on James it just a small hit." Jessie pointed out to him.

"Hey! Growlie's been my best friend ever since I was a boy and I won't let anything bad happen to him!"

Meanwhile, Meowth jumped in front of Leaf Jigglypuff with his claws out and ready to attack "Alright puffball, give it up and no one gets hurt!" But Jigglypuff did not take to kindly to this threat, and began use its double slap attack on Meowth.

In spite of it being called Double Slap though, Meowth was in for a surprise after the first two hits. "Is that all you got?" Meowth laughed, before being hit by a third slap, followed by a fourth, and finally, a critical fifth that sent him down on the ground for a few seconds.

Ash's Pikachu had finally taken care of Ekans, which had been knocked out, unable to withstand Pikachu's electric attacks. Growlithe glanced at the Pikachu and used a loud Roar, frightening it as well as the Butterfree known as Happy. "Pika!" Pikachu stammered, running behind Ash.

"Huh? Pikachu, are you scared?" Ash asked. "Alright, you can stay back. Charmander, go!"

"Zippo, you can do it!" The other boy yelled, as his Charmander was sent forward also.

"Growlie use Ember again!" James ordered.  
"Charmander!"  
"Zippo!"  
"Use Ember as well!" Both Ash and the boy said at the same time.

Once the Embers hit Growlithe, the puppy Pokémon sneered, and James started laughing. "You dumb kids! Growly has the ability of Flash Fire! When Fire-type moves hit him, his power will increase!" Both boys gasped at the revelation, as the Growlithe retaliated with a larger fireball which came in their direction. The two Charmander were singed by Growlithe's more potent Ember.

While Ash began to panic, the other boy just smiled. "Funny you should bring up abilities, because that's exactly what I wanted!"

"What!?" Both James and Ash exclaimed, as the other Charmander, Zippo, began grinning.

"Charmander's own ability is Blaze! When he's in a pinch, Zippo's attack power is doubled!" The boy then pointed at the Growlithe, as Zippo's fiery tail flared up more than it did previously. "Zippo! Use Rage!" At the boy's command, the Charmander harshly rammed its body into Growlithe, who was immediately knocked down from the powerful impact.

"Whoa, cool!" Ash exclaimed, while James cried out in despair.

"Noooo!" He then picked up his Growlithe and began rocking it back and forth. "I'm so sorry, Growlie I'm so sorry!"

Jessie just looked at James with an angry stare before notice of Meowth now laying on the ground, with Leaf's Jigglypuff standing on top of him. "Aaagh, that pink puffball was tougher than it looked! We can't nab the brat's Pokémon like this!" Meowth complained, out of stamina.

"What do we do? Do we ask the admin in charge for help?" James wondered.  
"No way! Not him, ever!"

"Did somebody mention me?"

Coming forth was a Team Rocket member wearing black, the same one from earlier carrying a whip, with a Raticate by his side. "What a pathetic display, losing to a bunch of kids! Am I going to have to report to Giovanni that you two were goofing off?"

"No, you see, uh," James stammered, "we were following a Clefairy, then saw that girl had a Jigglypuff, so we-"

"Alright, you lot get outta here!" The admin barked.

"Team Rocket's blasting off… again." Meowth whined, getting up as he took his leave, followed by Jessie and James.

Once they were gone, the Rocket admin smirked, looking at the group of brats. "Fairy-types, eh? Gotta admit, I didn't think those idiots would find a trainer with a Jigglypuff here, as well as two Pikachu. Hopefully they don't mind if I take all the credit while they get booted away for slacking off!" The admin cackled.

"How could you say that!? They may be villains, but you can't just take the credit from your allies like that!" The boy objected.

"Speaking out to me? A rocket admin? What do you call yourself?"  
"Uh, Ritchie."

"Well, Ritchie, for that, I'm taking your Pokémon first!" Cracking the whip in his hands, the admin's Raticate leaped forward.

"Sparky use Thundershock!" The Pikachu named Sparky let out a blast of electricity that shocked the rat-like Pokemon, yet it still kept coming.

"It will take more than that to take down my Raticate, punk! Now, use Hyper Fang!" The Raticate immediately clamped down on Ritchie's Pikachu upon the order, doing hefty damage, due to the Pikachu's frail defenses. "Sparky, hold on!" Ritchie cried out, believing in his Pikachu, which was staggering and flinching in pain.

"Good, now finish that pest off with Quick Attack!" The Rocket Admin shouted.

"Fai, fairy!" Suddenly, the battle was interrupted by a wild Clefairy, the same one from earlier that had been chased around. Waving its finger around, it drew the attention of the Raticate, which instead focused on the wild Clefairy, striking it down with Quick Attack.

"What!? No, you idiot rat! Focus on that Pikachu, not the bystander!" The Rocket then tried to whip the attention of his Raticate back as the Clefairy laid on the ground. Sparky though, took the chance to use another electric attack on the Raticate, doing more significant damage than previously. The Raticate, unable to withstand the surges through its body, fainted. "Darn it!" The Rocket complained, making his Pokémon return. "That Raticate was all I had, you accursed brats! You'll pay for this!"

With that, the Rocket Admin fled the scene, leaving Ritchie to heal his Pikachu with a potion. "That was a close one," Ritchie muttered, looking at the Clefairy. "Oh, that's right! Hey, are you okay?"

"Fairy…"

"It's okay, stand still, I won't hurt you." The Clefairy was frightened at first, but immediately calmed down when Ritchie carefully sprayed a potion on the scratched up spot. "There you go!"

"Wow, you're pretty good, Ritchie!" Ash complimented.  
"Yeah, you chased off that Rocket like no issue!" Leaf added.

"Thanks, but I really couldn't have done it if you two hadn't found Sparky and didn't help out. Same with that little Clefairy. I probably would've been done for." The Clefairy then looked up at Ritchie, giving him a look of trust. "With that boss guy gone, um, Team Rocket will leave the cave, right? Because they've been causing a lot of problems."

"It looks like it," Leaf replied, noting how several Rocket grunts were now leaving the area in a panic, not wanting to be outdone by a bunch of children. The swarm of Zubat certainly didn't help them, as they were attempting to nip at some of the grunts and their Pokémon, several fossils and rocks were spilled by the grunts as they tried to escape.

"Get out of here while you still can! Boss's orders!"  
"Man, what's Giovanni going to say!?"

Once they all took their exit, the cave began to quiet down, the Zubat could finally relax, now that there was less ruckus and damage going on.

"That's a relief! Oh, I'm Ash by the way, and this is Leaf." Ash said, introducing himself and his friend.

"Nice to meet you guys, and thank you for finding Sparky," Ritchie replied.

"No problem!"

"Char!" Ash's Charmander and Ritchie's were shaking hands in greeting.

"Oh and this is Zippo, but you already knew that I'm guessing."  
"Cool! did you receive it from Professor Oak?" Ash asked.  
"I sure did! I just started a few weeks ago." Ritchie explained.

The Clefairy raised its head during the conversation, with Leaf staring at it, a look of adoration on her face. "Aw, how cute! Maybe I should catch A Clefairy while I'm here." Almost immediately after she said that, Jigglypuff began puffing up and pouting, trying to block Leaf's vision. Luckily for Jigglypuff, the Clefairy seemed more focused on Ritchie than Leaf, as it jumped over towards him.

"Jigglypuff what are you doing!?" Leaf scolded her Pokemon.

"Uh, Leaf, I don't think Jigglypuff likes the idea of another cute, Fairy-type Pokemon being around," Ash suggested.  
"Aw geez, Jigglypuff, I don't mean to leave you out!"

"I don't think it matters anyway," Ash continued, "it looks like that Clefairy made its mind up anyway."

"Huh?" Ritchie then looked down, seeing the Clefairy near his feet. "Clefairy, you want to come with me?"

"I guess it likes you for helping get rid of Team Rocket and healing it!" Ash explained.

"Really? Well, what do you say Clefairy?" Ritchie asked, getting on his knees in front of the fairy Pokemon. "Will you come with me?"

"Clefairy!" It nodded, jumping into his arms, making Ritchie laugh.

"Alright!" Ritchie said as he pulled out a Pokeball allowing the Clefairy to push the button with its hand before getting sucked in "Awesome, I now have a Clefariy! I'm going to name you... Fay!"

"Well, looks like the path to Cerulean should be less hectic from here! Thanks for your help, Ritchie." Ash said.

"Oh, no, thank you two. In fact, here!" Digging through his pockets, Ritchie took out two small, grey rocks, as well as a candy with each one, that had a blue wrapping around it. "This is a Moon Stone, and a Rare Candy. A Moon Stone evolves specific Pokémon, like Jigglypuff and Clefairy, while Rare Candies enhance the power level of your Pokémon! Use them wisely though."

"What about you?" Leaf asked. "Don't you need a Moon Stone for your new friend?"

"Maybe, but I'm sure finding another one won't be hard at all. Especially since Team Rocket dropped so many of them on their way out. Just take it as a thank you gift for keeping Sparky safe!" Sparky then climbed up onto Ritchie's shoulder, as the two began to leave. "I hope to see you two again someday!"

"You too!"

* * *

As they departed, Ash and Leaf were glad that there was no more rumbling and no more Zubat roaming about. As they walked, Ash looked at the Moon Stone Ritchie had given him. "I wonder what other Pokemon this works on? Gah!" As Ash was thinking out loud, he found himself unknowingly tripping on a rock. Landing on his knees, he grunted in pain. "Owch, what the heck was that?" He glanced over to his foot, seeing an oddly shaped rock, looking as if it had been carved out. No doubt it was one of the stones Team Rocket had left behind, but when Ash examined it more closely, he noticed that it had the part of a shell stuck to the rock.

"A fossil?" Ash muttered. "I guess I better ask about this when I get to Cerulean, maybe Professor Oak will know something."

"Hey look! There's another one" Leaf exclaimed as she picked up one had more of a spiral shape on it. "Dunno why Team Rocket was after all of these. Maybe they wanted to get filthy rich by selling them to Pewter's Museum, but I doubt the museum would buy from those criminals."

After that, the two kept walking until they saw a light at the end of the tunnel. Overjoyed by this they begin to run for it, until they where final met with a warm heat of the sun.

"Finally, we're out of that darn cave!" Leaf cheered.

"Now we can head to Cerulean-" Ash was then stopped when he noticed something carved into the side of the tunnel's wall, which said "Gary was here, Ash is a loser". after reading that Ash's face went red. "Why that no good... I'll show him!"

And with he ran off down the trail unintentionally leaving Leaf behind, who looked at the message. "Oh geez," she muttered, while Jigglypuff just laughed.

 **AN: okay this one was crazy to do but we did it thank you NK and SneaselXRiolu for helping me with this. Also please leave a review or PM me and tell me what you think of this chapter of the story so far or if you have any questions feel free to ask them.**


	8. Chapter 8

Finally, Ash had arrived at Cerulean City. With all of his Pokémon lined up in a row and out of their Pokéballs, he did some thinking as he held the Rare Candy and Moon Stone in his hands. "Hm, I guess I'll save the Moon Stone for when I can evolve someone with it," Ash muttered to himself, oblivious to his Nidoran jumping up and down, and it becoming disappointed once Ash put the Moon Stone away. "I don't think I've leveled you in a while, Metapod, how about a boost?"

Gently handing the Rare Candy over to Metapod, Ash wasn't sure if Metapod would even eat it. There didn't appear to be any mouth opening, and it always remained rather still. At least, that's what Ash thought, until his Metapod leaned over into his hand, suddenly devouring the Rare Candy without a trace.

"Huh!? But how?" Ash wondered. "I guess I shouldn't think about it too hard, but geez." That was when the shell of Metapod was now glowing and cracking, almost hatching like an egg of some kind. It shook, and Ash began to panic. Was something wrong with the Rare Candy? Why was Metapod reacting this way?

The question was answered by a pair of wings coming out of the Metapod's backside, slowly unfolding themselves. A purple body was attached to it, and the cocoon of Metapod soon began to disappear as Butterfree stood in its place. "Free!" Butterfree chimed, amazing Ash's other Pokémon.

"Wow, Metapod you evolved into a Butterfree! That's awesome!" Ash said in excitement as he ran over to Butterfree who in turn flew over to him and embraced him. Once Ash was finished hugging the newly evolved Butterfree, he put it back into its Pokéball for now. Same with just about all of his other Pokémon, sans Pikachu, then he left the Pokémon Center with everyone fully revitalized. "That's right," Ash said to himself, looking at the building close to the Pokémon Center. It was the Cerulean Gym, and reading the sign out loud gave him a little bit of information about the Gym Leader that awaited him.

"Misty, the Tomboyish Mermaid?" Ash muttered. "I guess she's a Water-type Gym Leader. That's not going to be any good for Charmander. But you could take her, right Pikachu?"

"Pika pi!"

"Yeah, I thought so!" Ash cheerfully said. "Still though, you can never be too prepared. If I remember, Grass was strong against Water too, right? Maybe we should find a Grass-type." As Ash was talking to Pikachu, something was rustling in the bushes close by, keeping an eye on him. "I don't think we can go back to Mt. Moon and grab a Paras though. We'll have to find something else!"

"Pika," Pikachu nodded in agreement. As Ash put his backpack on and was getting ready to head out Pikachu suddenly sensed something. "Pi!" Pikachu then turned around, getting into a defensive stance, staring down at what was in the bushes.

"Pikachu, what's the problem?" Ash asked, looking at the rustling bushes. "What do you think something behind that bush?" He asked. Pikachu just nodded. Ash then approached the bush with caution not knowing what could be behind it most likely it was a Pokémon but whether it was dangerous was still unknown it could also be a Team Rocket member who had followed him from Mt. Moon.

However, when Ash pushes the bush leaves aside, all he saw were a clump of leaves stuck in the ground, looking like a weed. "Looks like nothing is here- huh?" Ash then saw Pikachu try to yank the weed out of the ground, which confused him. "Pikachu, what are you doing now?"

"Piiiii!" Pikachu grunted, finally pulling up what was underneath.

"A Pokémon!?" Ash exclaimed as he saw the dark blue body that was connected to the leaves. However, just before he could take out his Pokédex to scan it, the Pokémon let out a loud shriek, causing pain to Ash and Pikachu's ears as it ran away. "Ow! That thing wasn't happy to be pulled out." Ash groaned. "Still, it looked like that was a Grass-type, and we could use one for the team. Maybe we should pursue it."

"Pika!" Pikachu agreed as the two then ran in pursuit of the Pokémon. In the Pokémon's hurry, it ran towards the bridge north of Cerulean City. Ash ended up halting from all the people that were present, most of them standing around with Pokémon. "What's going on?" Ash said to himself, as he stepped forward, a girl approaching him.

"Welcome to the Nugget Bridge!" She cheerfully exclaimed. "We're holding a competition here! If you beat five trainers, you with a fabulous, golden prize, and an equally golden opportunity! How about it? Would you like to participate, trainer?"

"Um, not really," Ash replied, "I was just chasing after that Oddish over there."  
"Oh come on now, don't be shy! I'm sure that little Oddish can wait!" The girl said.

"Well, okay, I guess I need to raise my Pokémon anyway." Ash gave in.  
"Good!" The girl then stepped back. "Face three trainers, and you'll be victorious! First up!"

The first trainer that came forth was a girl, a Lass to be specific, anticipating the fight. "I hope you're ready! Go, Nidoran!"

"Butterfree!" Ash shouted, sending out his newly evolved Pokémon.

"Nidoran, use Double Kick!" The Lass said as her Nidoran jumped at Butterfree, with its feet ready to kick.

"Butterfree use Gust!" Butterfree then flapped its wings, creating a brief but strong gust of wind. The Nidoran's Double Kick proved to not do as much as hoped, especially when Butterfree blew it away. "Now follow it up with Confusion!" Ash commanded, which Butterfree did. It didn't last a second, as the Lass returned her fainted Nidoran. "Wow, that was really easy."

"Well of course! She's only your first opponent! Don't let your guard down just yet, kid!" The girl said. After the Lass was done, a Bug Catcher came forward. "Things are going to get hotter from here on out, do your best!" The girl giggled, while from afar, the Oddish from earlier was watching.

"Paras! You can do it!" The Bug Catcher yelled, sending out a small, crab-like Pokémon with mushrooms on its back.

"Alright, I'll heat things up a little! Charmander, I choose you!" He then brought out his Charmander and as usual, it seemed glad to get out and be ready to battle.

"Paras, use Flash!" The big catcher said.

The blinding light ended up messing up Charmander's vision, making him miss his Ember attack not once, but twice. "Oh no, what do I do!? Charmander's accuracy keeps being whittled down!" Ash said to himself.

"Now, use Stun Spore!" The Bug Catcher yelled.

"Charmander, get up close and personal! Use Bite!" Instead though, as Charmander got close to the Paras, a new move was used. Charmander's teeth were ablaze, and as it chomped down on the Paras, burning it. The Bug-type Pokémon screeched from the surprise attack, which shocked both Ash and the Bug Catcher. "A new move!?" Ash exclaimed.

Immediately after that, Paras went down, but Charmander was still afflicted by the spores. "Great work, Charmander! Return for now, so you can rest!" Ash then sent out Pidgey, while the Bug Catcher released his Kakuna. "Pidgey, use Quick Attack!"

"Kakuna, use Harden!" Pidgey rammed straight into the Kakuna. However, the cocoon Pokémon didn't even flinch and Pidgey seemed to be shaking its head as if it were in pain. "Great work, Kakuna! Retaliate with a Poison Sting!"

"Sand Attack to make its aim less accurate, Pidgey!" Blowing some sand over towards the Kakuna, that made the Poison Sting miss, giving Ash enough time to plan his next move. "Try Gust this time, Pidgey!" Doing as it was told, Pidgey kicked up a small gust of wind, which was able to pierce the Kakuna's rock hard defenses, sending it down for the count.

"Darn it!" The Bug Catcher complained, making his Pokémon return.

"Wonderful! Just one more to go, challenger, and he's the hardest of the Nugget Bridge trio!" The girl explained, as this time, a Camper trainer came forward.

"Hope you're ready!" The Camper said. "Go, Mankey!"

"A Mankey huh?" Ash said as he returned his Pidgey. "Nidoran, I choose you!" He yelled as he sent out the poison pin Pokémon.

"Mankey, use Scratch!"

"Brace yourself, Nidoran! Then use Horn Attack!" Ash ordered. The Nidoran gladly defended itself, poisoning the Mankey with its Poison Point, and then striking it with a Horn Attack.

The Camper gritted his teeth. "Mankey, this time use Karate Chop! Try to do some critical damage!" The Mankey did exactly that, chipping away at Nidoran's health a bit, but not enough as the Camper had hoped. Not helping was the fact that Mankey was poisoned.

"Finish him off with Peck, Nidoran!" One last jab from the horn was enough to do Mankey in. That strike combined with succumbing to poison, it didn't stand a chance.

"Shoot!" The Camper then sent out a Spearow next.

"You up for another Round Nidoran?" Ash asked it, and Nidoran just nodded. "Alright, let's start out with Poison Sting!"

"Spearow, dodge it and use Peck!" As soon as Ash's Nidoran shot a poison cart at the bird-like Pokemon, the Camper's Spearow quickly moved out of the way before swooping down and pecking Nidoran multiple times in the head. The Spearow made sure to be careful, avoiding each poisonous spine on the Nidoran while pecking at it, before finally drawing back. The Nidoran was none too happy about being jabbed at so much.

"Focus Energy, Nidoran!" Ash ordered, as the Nidoran prepared to get pent up.  
"Spearow, this time, finish him off with Fury Attack!"  
"Horn Attack him critically!"

This time Spearow wasn't able to dodge in time, since it thought the Nidoran was laying low, but was gravely mistaken once Nidoran dealt critical damage to the small bird.

"Spearow!" The small Bird Pokemon fainted, winning this round for Nidoran.  
"Alright! Way to go, Nidoran!" Ash cheered as Nidoran held a proud posture.

The Camper grunted, having one last Pokémon left. "Zubat! Finish this once and for all!" The Camper's next Pokemon made Ash flinch a bit, remembering what happened in Mt. Moon, but he didn't let that get to him and was able to focus on the battle.

"Hey, Nidoran what do you say you take a break for a bit?" Ash asked his Pokemon. The Nidoran nodded, as Ash began to switch out Nidoran for Pikachu jumping forward. "Pikachu! Go for it!"

"Zubat use Supersonic!" The bat-like Pokemon then let out a high-frequency shriek that caused Pikachu to become dizzy. "Great! Now use Wing Attack!"

"Brace yourself for that Wing Attack, Pikachu!" Ash yelled, but was uncertain if Pikachu had heard him, with how he was stumbling around. "Pikachu?"

"When a Pokémon is confused, they can't think straight!" The Camper pointed out to Ash. "And what's more, they can hurt themselves in the confusion!" This was made evident when Pikachu tried to attack, but only found itself ramming into the side of the bridge instead, giving Zubat a chance to use Wing Attack.

Ash tried to think of something how could he get Pikachu to break its confusion. He tried calling out to Pikachu, but appeared to do nothing. Snapping his fingers didn't seem to do much either. "Zubat, use Leech Life!" The Camper ordered, as Zubat dived down and latched onto Pikachu's head.

The Bat like Pokemon then sunk its teeth into Pikachu and began to drain its health. Distressed by this Ash began calling out to Pikachu more loudly. "Pikachu, come on! Snap out of it!"

In Pikachu's mind, everything was a haze, it was unable to grasp what exactly was going on but it could make out a faint sound that seem to get louder. At first, Pikachu didn't know what to think of it as he was still trying to grasp what was going on in his own head, but soon the sound started to sound familiar and the Pikachu recognized it has his trainer calling out to him.

He couldn't fail Ash, not now!

Finally snapping out of it, while Zubat was latched onto Pikachu, a Thundershock was unleashed. The direct contact only made the damage against the Zubat heftier, as it went down with a single shock. The Camper's mouth was hanging wide open, he then grumbled to himself, making the Zubat return while the others began to cheer.

"Great work, Pikachu! I was worried there for a second!"

"Pika pi!" Pikachu squeaked, jumping back into Ash's arms.

"Trainer! You did it!" The girl in charge exclaimed. "You beat the Nugget Bridge Triad! And for that, here is your prize!" She then presented him a golden ball, as well as a black tulip. "This is a gold Nugget! You can sell that for a lot of money, which I'm sure you'll need!"

"Whoa, cool," Ash then looked at the flower given to him. "What's this though?"

"I'm making you an offer you can't refuse, trainer! With your strength, you would be perfect… for Team Rocket!"

"Huh!?" Ash shouted, Pikachu even looking shocked.

"How about it? We at Team Rocket are doing research on the Nugget Bridge, to find sightings of the legendary Pokémon, Mew!" The girl explained. "With your skill, you could rank amongst the highest elites in Team Rocket, like me!"

"No way!" Ash snapped, throwing the tulip down, which shocked not only the girl, but the other three trainers. "I've already put up with you guys in Mt. Moon, and now you're causing trouble here too? Get real! I'd never join a bunch of crooks!"

"Mt. Moon?" The girl then came to a grim realization. "Wait, you're the brat who took down Capone!? I thought he was just making that up as an excuse!" She finally removed her disguise. The girl had blonde hair that resembled drills, a pink hat, and a black Rocket uniform. The other trainers did the same, revealing themselves to be lower grunts.

"Who are you!?" Ash demanded to know.

"Domino, I'm an elite Rocket officer." She introduced herself. "Looks like I'm going to have to chase you out after all! Go, Drowzee!" The Pokemon that came out resembled a bipedal tapir, with a dark yellow upper half, and a dark brown lower half.

"If it's a battle you want then, it's a battle you'll get! Go, Butterfree!" Ash then threw the Pokeball, releasing his chosen Pokemon.

"Drowzee! Hypnosis!" Domino started, which led to the tapir Pokémon lulling the butterfly Pokémon to sleep. Butterfree, unable to resist it, found itself drifting into a short slumber.

"Butterfree, wake up!" Ash called out to it.

"Not a chance! Follow it up with Confusion, Drowzee!" Soon Drowzee eye's began to glow and seen Butterfree was caught in a trance. "I see, you thought your Butterfree could get you a quick win because of its type advantage, but as you can see my Drowzee is a much higher level!" Domino taunted. "Drowzee use Psybeam!"

The Drowzee shot a beam from its hand, blasting Butterfree and knocking it out in an instant. "No! Butterfree!" Ash cried out. There went Ash's chance to use Bug Bite on the Drowzee. This Pokémon clearly wasn't going to mess around, and Ash had to think of a plan. "Charmander! Go and use Bite!" Out came the fiery lizard, which immediately jumped at Drowzee, clamping down on its arm. The Drowzee flinched, unable to fight back at the moment.

"No!" Domino yelled in anger. " Drowzee, use Confusion again!" She tried to tell her Pokemon but it was too busy trying to shake off Charmander. Thankfully, Ash learned his lesson from Butterfree fainting.

"Finish him with Fire Fang, Charmander!" Ash ordered. Doing exactly that, Charmander rolled away from the psychic waves that could've grabbed him, and then chomped down with fangs that were ablaze. This time, Drowzee was burned, and succumbed to it, finally collapsing.

"Shoot!" Domino yelled. "Drowzee, return! Go, Ditto!"

"Ditto?" Ash questioned.

What came out was a pink, blob-like Pokemon. Having never seen one before Ash pulled out his Pokedex to scan it

Species: Ditto

Type: Normal

Weakness: Fighting

Bio: Ditto the morphing Pokemon. Capable of copying an enemy's genetic code to instantly transform itself into a duplicate of the enemy.

"It can what!?" Ash exclaimed in both shock and confusion "How was that even possible?" He thought, then as if on cue, the pink blob Pokemon began to change shape until it shifted into an almost perfect replica of a Charmander. The only exception being its face still, which had the blank experience that it had as a Ditto.

"Ditto, now it's time to turn the tables! Use Bite!" Domino laughed. The Ditto Charmander lunged forward and then clamped its teeth around Charmander's neck.

There was no way that Ash could fight this mimicking Pokémon, not when it had all the same moves as his Charmander. It looked like the most he could do was switch out to something else, but it was a difficult decision as to who should be sent out. "Charmander, return for now! Pidgey, get rid of this doppelganger! Use Quick Attack!"

"Ditto, Fire Fang!" Pidgey managed to hit first, but was then struck by the fiery chomp. In retaliation, Pidgey used Sand Attack to blind the Ditto slightly. "Now Pidgeym Quick Attack one more time!" Ash ordered as the tiny bird Pokémon flew at the fake Charmander.

"Ditto, shake it off and use Metal Claw!" Domino yelled.

"No way! Not happening!" Ash then pointed at the fake Charmander. "Blow the fake away with Gust!"

The small gust of wind did more against Ditto than one anticipated. It flung Ditto up into the air, transforming back to its original form, before being stuck on Domino's face as it came back down. "What the heck!? Ditto, get off of me!" Domino yelled, unable to see as she tried to pull the pink slime off.

Instead, however, she tripped over the rail of the Nugget Bridge, falling into the water with a shout. The other three Rocket Grunts, panicking, made a run for it. "Where are you all going!? Help me out of here!" Domino yelled at them, before Ditto transformed into a flotation device. "Whew, that's better! At least someone cares." She looked up at Ash one last time, infuriated. "You won't get away with this, you punk!"

"I already have though," Ash replied.

"Well, you- Mew!" Domino gasped, seeing a pink, cat-like Pokémon fly around Ash.

"Huh?" Ash asked. "What are you talking about?" The strange Pokémon looked at Ash with curiosity, angering Domino even more as Mew began to zip away once Ash turned around. "Anyway, it looks like Team Rocket is causing problems in Cerulean. I guess I'll end up bumping into them more than I had anticipated."

While walking away and leaving Domino behind, Mew giggled, watching Ash from afar before flying away. Oddish, taking notice to the Mew, finally revealed itself, in awe over what it had witnessed. "Oh yeah! Now I remember why I really came here." Ash then took out a Pokéball.

He then threw the Pokeball, which hit the Oddish before opening up and sucking it in. After a few shakes, the ball let out a ring, showing that the weed Pokemon was caught. "Yes!" Ash cheered. "Our first Grass-type Pokémon!" Pidgey then cheered with Ash, as did Pikachu, glad to have a new member on the team. After Ash picked up the Pokeball, he returned Pidgey and then turned to Pikachu. "Cerulean Gym here we come!" He cheered with great enthusiasm.

While he and Pikachu left to their next destination, the strange, pink cat-like Pokemon kept watching over them. For some reason felt the need to follow them.


	9. Chapter 9

Ch9

"This is it Pikachu, Cerulean Gym, are you ready for this?" Ash asked, turning to his Pokemon as the two of them stood a few feet from the main door.

"Pikachu!" Pikachu nodded back at him.

"Alright, let's go!" The two of them then sprinted toward the main entrance, however, once they got close the doors flew open, surprising them as well as causing Ash to lose his balance and fall.

"Well, look who it is!" Ash know whose voice that was, he looked up and saw that it was, in fact, Gary standing over him. "I thought you'd be much farther back, guess I was wrong for once."

"Gary!" Ash gritted his teeth, remembering the message left behind in Mt. Moon.

"Well, you're probably going to get held back again in a moment! You probably aren't ready for the Cerulean Gym," Gary mocked. "Your Charmander won't be any match for Misty!"

"That's where your wrong! Pikachu is by my side, and I just got a Grass-type to help me out!" Ash then sent out the newly caught Oddish, which appeared to be extremely nervous.

"That little weedy thing?" Gary laughed. "You're gonna be toast if that's the best you got!"Offended by Gary's rude remarks towards itself and Ash, the Oddish began shaking its leaves around, blowing over a cloud of spore-like substances towards Gary. "Hey! What the heck!? My muscles are seizing up! Ash, call off that weed of yours!"

"Oddish, return!" Ash said, returning Oddish back to its Pokeball. He then noticed Gary seemed to be in a paralyzed state, unable to move an inch. "Uh, Gary?" Ash then waved his hand in front of Gary's face to get a reaction but got nothing. After a minute, Ash then walked away like nothing had happened, stepping inside of the gym. "He'll be okay, I think," Ash mumbled to himself.

As soon as Ash and Pikachu walked in the battle arena which resembled a large swimming pool. They were then greeted by a girl with short orange hair tied in a ponytail that hung from the side, she wore blue short shorts that were held by red suspenders and a yellow midriff shirt. "Uh, are you Misty?" Ash asked, a little flustered by her appearance.

"That I am! Misty, the world-famous beauty, is your host! I didn't think this place would be so busy today, I'm seeing a lot of new faces lately." The girl replied. "What's your name? And your approach with Pokémon?"

"My name is Ash Ketchum, I'm aiming to enter the Indigo League and become a Pokemon Master!" He told her.

"I see," Misty replied, "but what is your approach? Are you balanced? Play defensively? With strategy? Or with speed?" Misty asked.

"What do you mean?" Ash wondered.

"I want to know how you fight! I myself, prefer going all out offensive with Water-type Pokémon! They have amazing Special Attack!" Misty explained.

"Oh, well I don't really have any special way of fighting, I just play to the strengths of my Pokemon," Ash told her.

"I think I get it," Misty said to herself. This boy seemed modest at least, it was curious how different he was from the last opponent. "You better be prepared then! Are you ready?" Misty then took a Pokéball out.

"You bet I am!" Ash declared with enthusiasm.

"Very well, let's begin!" Misty exclaimed as she and Ash went to stand on opposite sides of the stadium. Misty held up her Pokeball, ready to throw it. "Misty calls upon Star..."

"Wait!" A voice called out. The two turned their attention, seeing Gary run in.

"What are you doing back in here? We already had our battle!" Misty shouted, a bit angry that this punk just interrupted the match before it could even start.

"I know, but I just wanted to see how good my 'friend' here would do against you," Gary sneered. This agitated Ash because he knew Gary wanted to see him lose, but he was going to prove him wrong.

"Very well you can watch," Misty sighed before turning back to Ash. "As I was saying, Misty calls upon Staryu!" Misty yelled as she threw her Pokeball, releasing a light brown star-shaped Pokémon, it had a yellow center that had a red jewel in the middle.

"Alright, you ready Pikachu?" Ash asked his Pokémon, who just nodded in agreement. "Let's do this!" Pikachu then jumped out in front of Ash, ready to fight. Meanwhile, on the sideline, Gary took a seat on the bench them released his Squirtle and Eevee to watch the match with him. His Eevee didn't seem very interested in the fight though and just curled up on Gary's lap.

"Pikachu, outspeed that Staryu first with Thundershock!" Ash first ordered.

"Slow him down with Bubble Beam, Staryu!" Misty retaliated. Staryu shot a stream of explosive bubbles at Pikachu but the little mouse Pokemon was able to dodge them long enough to wait for an opening. Once an opportunity was seen, it shot an electric ball from its check directly at the Starfish Pokemon. "Staryu are you okay?" Misty asked her Staryu, it nodded and blinked with a red light to inform her that it was alright. "Good now use Rapid Spin!"

Misty's Staryu then began spinning like a saw before flying right at Pikachu. "Jump over Pikachu!" Pikachu just managed to leap over it as it was coming towards him, but it then turned around and was heading right back. "Good job, Pikachu! It's coming back, so use Thundershock again!"

"Staryu, counter it with Swift!" Staryu then shot a series of Stars out of its gem eye there collided with Pikachus Thundershock, causing a small explosion. "Staryu, use Water Gun this time!" Staryu then blasted a stream of water from the tip of its head.

"Pikachu dodge it and paralyze Staryu with a Thunder Wave!" Ash ordered, and to Misty's surprise, Pikachu managed to perform a dodge in mid-air. With Pikachu's evasiveness and speed, the mouse Pokémon managed to paralyze its opponent, leaving it unable to move.

"Now finish it off with another Thundershock attack!" While Staryu was unable to move, Pikachu took its chance at shot a ball of electricity at Staryu taking it out. The hit was direct, Staryu fell over and its side of the HP screen went down to zero. "Yes! Way to go, Pikachu!" Ash cheered as Pikachu did the same.

Misty meanwhile, returned Staryu to its Pokeball. "Not bad Ash, but you still have yet to face my best!" Misty declared as she pulled out another Pokeball and got ready to throw it. Now, Misty calls upon Starmie!" However, as she threw the Pokéball, the beam when right into the water. Ash couldn't see what it was that came out, all he saw was something yellow, splashing in water as well as a voice crying out.

"Psyyyyyyy!"

"Oh, not again!" Misty groaned. Soon the Pokémon managed to pull itself on to the platform and Ash finally got a good look at it, it looked like a chubby yellow duck with big eyes and it also appeared to be holding its head.

"What is that?" Ash wondered pulling out his Pokedex.

Species: Psyduck

Level: 17

Type: Water

Weakness: Grass, Electric

Bio: Psyduck, the Duck Pokémon. When its headache intensifies, it starts using strange powers. However, it has no recollection of its powers, so it always looks befuddled and bewildered.

Just then, one of the three girls standing near the pool began giggling, irritating Misty. "Lily! You switched out my Starmie for Psyduck again, didn't you!?" The three girls had very distinct hairstyles, and the one laughing in particular, had bright, red hair.

"Who are they?" Ash asked.  
"They're my sisters, just ignore them," Misty replied

"Psyduck will have to do then!" Misty then pointed, while Psyduck stood there with a blank expression. "Psyduck, Disable that Pikachu's Thundershock!"

"Psy?" Was all it said as it just cocked it's head to the side almost like it didn't understand what she had said.

"Grrr, do something you dimwitted duck!" She yelled  
"Duck?" Again, acting like it didn't even hear her.

"Maybe you should switch Pokémon," Ash suggested.

"A Gym Leader can't switch Pokémon, remember?" Misty pointed out.

Pikachu walked up to the yellow duck, lightly prodding it with its hands. "Pika pi?"

"Your Psyduck was underleveled anyway, it needed some training!" The older sister with blue hair. "It's better that you raise all your Pokémon proper, Misty."

"But Psyduck almost never attacks when I want him to!" Misty complained.

"Pikachu, try a Thundershock, but not too powerful just to try and get it to respond, okay?" Ash asked.

"Pika!" Pikachu nodded and then charged up a Thundershock. Just lightly poking Psyduck with its finger to shock it somehow caused the Psyduck to fall over and hit its head on the ground. Psyduck then began to writhe in pain, holding its head even tighter.

The Psyduck then had a strange, blue glow surround its body. It was faint and hard to see, but Pikachu could definitely notice it, and so did Ash. "What's going on?" Ash wondered. Then without warning, Pikachu was lifted up into the air and thrown across the arena smacking, into a wall. "Pikachu!" Ash cried out, he then turned to the screen and saw Pikachus health go all the way down to zero.

Even Misty seemed rather shocked by this turn of events. "Even though Psyduck is a pure Water-type, it's capable of knowing Psychic-type moves," she muttered, "but I've never seen them used before until now! I thought this Psyduck's level was too low to do anything with its power."

Panicking, Ash sent his next Pokémon, the recently evolved Butterfree, hoping that a Bug-type it could help against the Psychic attacks. "Butterfree, use Sleep Powder!" Ash called out.

Gary meanwhile, stood there and began laughing while Psyduck fell asleep. "A Bug-type won't help you that much! Didn't you hear what the Gym Leader said?" Ash then raised his eyebrows, confused. "Psyduck is a pure Water-type, not Psychic! A move like Bug Bite won't help you, and Butterfree won't be all that resistant to Psyduck's Confusion!"

Darn it, he was right! The Psyduck was asleep at least, which gave Ash some time to think of what he could do next before it woke up again. "Butterfree use Psybeam!" Butterfree then shot a beam from its eyes at Psyduck. Unfortunately, the duck Pokemon woke up faster the Ash had hoped and used its Psychic powers to send the beam right back a poor Butterfree.

"Psyduck! Finish off that Butterfree with Water Pulse!" Misty ordered, hoping that it got through to Psyduck. At first, the duck Pokémon stood still, but then opened its bill, unleashing pulsating rings of water in Butterfree's direction.

"Look out Butterfree!" However, Butterfree was not fast enough and was taken out by the Water Pulse. With Gary laughing and Misty praising the Psyduck, Ash's options became slim now. Pikachu, the main ace in the hole as an Electric-type had been taken out, and now the fully evolved Butterfree was done for. Most of the other Pokémon Ash had wouldn't last, and the best option appeared to be Oddish.

Oddish was also part Poison-type though, and if Psyduck got a good hit with Confusion, it would be all over. Ash had to give it a try. "Go Oddish!" He yelled throwing, the Pokeball and releasing the weed Pokemon.

Sent out so suddenly, Oddish looked around rather nervously, staring down the blank-faced opponent. It walked up to the Psyduck cautiously, examining it. "Don't get too close, Oddish!" Ash warned. That was the very moment a blue glow began to surround Psyduck, and before it could touch Oddish, the weed Pokémon unleashed a Stun Spore out of reflex. The attempt to use Confusion came to a halt, as if Psyduck's entire mind had been paralyzed along with its body.

"Oh no, Psyduck, do something!" Misty shouted but it was no use.  
"Way to go, Oddish!" Ash cheered.

The Psyduck stood still a bit longer, before unleashing another Water Pulse onto Oddish, confusing the Grass-type. "Nice shot, Psyduck!" Misty exclaimed while Oddish began wandering about.

"Oddish, use Absorb!" Ash ordered. The Oddish tried to focus on its target in spite of the confusion inflicted upon it, releasing a small red beam from its leaves at Psyduck. The Psyduck's body was surrounded by the red light, energy slowly being drained out of it. Within just a few seconds, the Oddish appeared to be less damaged than before, while the Psyduck was rather hurt.

"That Oddish just drained the Psyduck's health into its own!" Gary shouted.  
"Oddish, keep it up, you're doing great!" Ash congratulated his Pokémon, which made Oddish very pleased with itself.

"Quick, Psyduck use Confusion!" Misty commanded.

"Not so fast! Oddish, use Acid!" Ash's Oddish then spat a big glob of acidic slime right in Psyduck's face. Slightly blinded and puzzled, the Psyduck's defenses were lowered, this combined with the paralysis still intact, gave Oddish the perfect chance to finish off Psyduck for good with another Absorb attack. "Oddish, let's finish this use Absorb." Then Oddish then used Absorb to drain the last of Psyduck health.

And that was it. The Psyduck remained where it was for a minute, looking puzzled about the pain and lack of stamina in its body. "Psy?" It quacked one last time, before falling on its back, letting go of its aching head. As soon as it fell, Psyduck's health bar on the screen dropped to zero with the words "lose" showing up on its side of the screen while the word win showed up on Oddishs

"Alright, you did it Oddish!" Ash cheered as he ran up to his Oddish and embraced it. On the other side, Misty returned her Psyduck to its Pokeball.

"That's it?" Gary scoffed.

"Looks like Misty still needs to practice after all!" The girl with red hair laughed.

"Oh, don't be so rude," the blue-haired one retorted, "battling trainers and raising Pokémon to bond with them is how a Gym Leader gets better! Misty, I'm proud of you, it looks like Psyduck is finally starting to listen to you." As the disappointed Misty began using a Revive on her Psyduck and healed it with Potions, she looked up to her oldest sister.

"Huh? You think so?" Misty then thought about it, while the reawakened Psyduck looked up to her. "I was afraid I wasn't matching up to your standards, I mean, I lost after all."

"We all start somewhere. When I was your age and became Gym Leader, I struggled to raise my Goldeen because I thought it didn't like me." The older sister smiled at her. "Gym Leaders aren't supposed to win all of their battles, they're supposed to be put up a good enough fight to challenge trainers, you and Psyduck did just that!"

"Aww, thanks Violet, that means a lot to me," Misty said.

Just then Ash approached her. "Well Misty, I will say you had me worried there for a minute!"

"Looks like we were both a decent challenge for each other! That's good, Pokémon battles are boring if they're too one-sided." Gary rolled his eyes as Misty's statement, as she took out a badge that was shaped like a droplet. "I present to you, the Cascade Badge! With it, your Pokémon power will be more on the offensive side, just like mine are!"

"Thanks, Misty, I'll do my best!" Ash then held his newly obtained badge in the air. "We did it! We got the Cascade Badge!" Ash yelled, with Pikachu and Oddish cheering as well.

* * *

After obtaining the Cascade Badge, Ash left so Misty could continue improving as a Gym Leader with her sisters. On his way out though, he was interrupted. "Hey Ash, hold on!"

It was Gary again. "What do you want now, Gary?" Ash asked, sounding pretty annoyed.

"I'm here to challenge you! That Battle was way too easy on you!" Gary sneered, as his Eevee jumped forward.

"What do you mean? Also, you can't just challenge me after a Gym battle! I didn't heal my Pokémon yet!" Ash pointed out to him.

"I don't care let's battle right here right now four-on-four!" Gary shouted. Ash looked over at Pikachu who gave him a look that said 'show this punk who's boss', which led to Ash nodding along with the Pikachu.

Ash took out a Pokéball, and Gary did the same, the two staring each other down in Cerulean City. It wouldn't be like last time, Ash had become more experienced, he had won against both Brock and Misty, and learned to believe in his Pokémon.

Ash believed that his Pokémon would win, and he would prove it right then and there!


	10. Chapter 10

Ch:10

Ash and Gary both withdrew there Pokeballs and almost in unison they threw them well Pikachu and Eevee sat on the sideline cheering on their respected trainers.

"Go Nidoran!"

"Go Zubat!"

Both there Pokémon got into a battle stances awaiting there orders "Nidoran, use Horn Attack!" Ash's Nidoran jumped at Gary's Zubat.

"Zubat, Supersonic attack!" Gary's Zubat then let out a high pitched shriek that caused Nidoran to miss its mark.

The confused Nidoran began stumbling around, legs wobbling after missing its attack and instead hurting itself. "Not again! Nidoran!" Ash called out, but his words couldn't reach the Pokémon this time.

"We got you now! Zubat use Wing Attack!" Gary ordered his Zubat. The Pokemon swooped down and struck Nidoran with its pointed part of its wing.

A critical hit was all Zubat needed to knock Nidoran's health all the way down to zero, the Nidoran collapsed onto its side. "Alright! A one-hit-wonder!" Gary laughed.

"Nidoran, return." Ash said as he he returned his Pokemon.

"You know Ash, I was hoping this would be a lot different then last time." Gary mocked him

"Oh yeah?" Ash growled. "Well this is where the similarities end! Pidgey, I choose you!"

"That wimpy little bird, against my Zubat? You gotta be kidding me!" Gary taunted.

"Well this wimpy little bird and I have been through a lot, and it will talk more than your big mouthed flying rodent to scare us!" Ash called back.

"Alright Ash, show me what you got!"

"Pidgey use tackle!"

The Pidgey lunged forward, with Gary sneering at the feeble attempt at an attack "Zubat, Bite that Pidgey!"

As soon as Pidgey got close Zubat latch on to it and Pidgey cried out in pain and Ash tried to think of something. "Quick, Pidgey, try to shake it off!"

Moving at a fast speed, Pidgey broke free from the Bite attack and struck Zubat down with a Quick Attack.

"Quick Zubat, use another Wing Attack!" Zubat once again flew toward Pidgey, but Ash had something in mind. "Pidgey, use Sand Attack!" Ash ordered and Pidgey flapped it's wings blowing up sand sending it right into Zubat's face.

"Zubat, come on! You don't even have eyes, you should be able to attack just fine!" Gary yelled, but the Zubat just flew around in a clumsy manner, trying to get the sand out of its face.

"Now Pidgey, use Tackle!"

Pidgey took the initiative to knock Zubat down when it could, knocking the Zubat out with a rather powerful slam.

Zubat was knock to the ground and was struggling to get back up but it's eventually gave up and just laid still.

"Yes! Way to go Pidgey!" Ash cheered Pidgey landed on the ground and let out a victorious coo when suddenly it's body started to glow.

Pidgey's size began to grow, appearing much larger than it did previously, Gary found himself rather surprised by this turn of events as well. Once the glow faded away, Pidgey had evolved into a new and better form.

"Wow, Pidgey you evolved!" Ash said in excitement as he pulled out his Pokedex and scanned his newly evolved Pokémon

Special: Pidgeotto

Type: Normal/Flying

Level: 18

Bio: Pidgeotto the bird Pokémon, This Pokémon is full of vitality. It constantly flies around its large territory in search of prey.

"Wow that's awesome" Ash said

"Hey, it's not over yet!" Gary yelled to him, rather irritated to see one of Ash's Pokémon had already evolved.

"Exeggcute, go!" Gary threw another pokeball and from it came what looked like six eggs with faces and they looked rather ugly.

"Eww, what is that?" Ash said as he pulled out his Pokedex to scan it.

Species: Exeggcute

Type: Grass/Psychic

Level: 16

Bio: Exeggcute, the Egg Pokémon. Even though it appears to be eggs of some sort, it was discovered to be a life-form more like plant seeds.

"Huh? So they're seeds, not eggs? That makes the cracks slightly less worrying, I guess." Ash said to himself.

"We don't have time to explain everything! Exeggcute use hypnosis" Gary shouted and the six little eggs eyes began to glow and Soon Pidgeotto was in a trance, seemingly asleep. "Now use Bullet Seed!"

The Bullet Seed found itself barely doing any real damage to the Flying-type, but being able to attack the opponent multiple times gave Gary a slight advantage for the moment being.

"Come on Pidgeotto! Snap out of it!" Ash called out but his Pokémon was still in a daze.

"Sorry Ash, but it looks like your bird's a little out of it! Exeggcute use Bullet Seed again!" The six Egg Pokémon began spitting more seeds at Pidgeotto Ash was scared knowing there was nothing he could do but then by some miracle Pidgeotto managed to snap out of it's hypnosis and dodge the oncoming projectiles

"Pidgeotto! Now is your chance, use Gust!"

Pidgeotto did as it was told and blew a gust of wind that blew the Egg Pokémon before it could pull itself back up Pidgeotto swoop down and attacked with its beak.

The Exeggcute were no match for the newly evolved bird Pokémon, and found themselves wiped out in just a few seconds.

"All right! See that Gary? I just took down two of your Pokémon with only one of mine" Ash gloated feeling pretty proud at himself and his Pokémon"

"Don't get too cocky Ash, we're not done yet! Go Fearow" Gary said

Ash was surprised when he saw the large bird Pokémon with the long beak. He had been cheering to himself for having his Pidgey evolved, but it turned out that Gary had evolved his own Flying-type Pokémon too!

"You up to this Pidgeotto?" Ash asked his bird Pokémon. Pidgeotto just nodded. "Alright, let's kick things off with a Quick Attack!" Ash shouted as Pidgeotto zoomed towards Gary's Fearow

"Drill Peck!" Gary told his his Fearow. The bird Pokémon flew at Ash's Pidgeotto well twirling its body like a drill.

Just as the two bird Pokémon were about to clash, someone yelled from across Cerulean City.

"Stop! In the name of the law!"

Ash's attention pulled away from the battle, as he saw an officer chasing a rather familiar face. Wearing a black outfit and carrying a whip, was the Rocket Admin Ash had encountered on Mt. Moon, trying to make a getaway out of Cerulean City.

"Pidgeotto! New plan! Use Quick Attack on that guy!" Ash said pointing at the fleeing suspect

"Huh!? Hey Ash, what's the big deal!?" Gary shouted. "We're having a battle here!"

"Change of plans!" Ash replied as he followed his Pidgeotto struck the Rocket Admin, tripping him.

"What the?" The Rocket Admin stumbled, landing on his face looking over to Ash. "You again!? Actually, you know what? This is perfect. I can finally get back at you for last time!" The Rocket Admin then took out a Pokéball.

"And this time you won't get away!" Ash yelled at him.

"Oh we'll see about that, boy!" The Rocket Admin snapped back, sending out his Raticate. "Ol' Capone here doesn't forgive brats who mess with him, so you better get lost! Hyper Fang that bird, Raticate!" His Raticate jumped forward and bit Pidgeotto. The bird like Pokemon began to screech in pain as the Admin's Raticate bit on Pidgeotto and showed no signs of letting go.

Then by surprise a Fearow flew at the two battling pokemon and performed a drill peck on the Rat Pokemon making it let go of Ash's Pidgeotto. Ash was shocked by this and turned to see Gary standing behind him. "Nice hit Fearow!" he congratulated his Pokemon.

"Gary, why are you helping me?" Ash ask in confusion.

"Hey, no one interrupts my battle!" Gary said.

The Admin look and saw the two bird Pokemon staring down at his Raticate. "Well, this sure isn't far" he said pulling out another Pokeball. "Let me even things out a little. Go Machop!" he then threw it and out came a humanoid lizard Pokemon that flex it's arms ready to fight.

"Woah, what Pokemon is that?" Ash then pulled out his Pokedex, but Gary stopped him.

"Now's not the time! Besides it's a fighting type and we have two flying type so we're at an advantage" Gary

You'll need more than a type advantage to beat me! Machop use Karate Chop on that Fearow! Raticate use Hyper Fang on that Pidgeotto.

Machop delivered a powerful chop to Gary's Fearow well Raticate punched Ash's Pidgeotto direct in the stomach.

"Pidgeotto!"

"Fearow!"

Both Ash and Gary shouted as both their Pokemon fell to the ground and struggled to get back up.

"Ha ha ha! Like I said, type advantage doesn't always help," the Admin taunted them.

"Well then, I'll just bring out my best" Gary said returning Fearow and retrieving another Pokeball.

"Me too!" Ash followed, doing the same.

"Go Squirtle!"

"Charmander, I choose you!"

The two boys called forth their two starter Pokemon.

"This should be interesting..." the Admin said, obviously not impressed with the two Pokemon.

"Charmander use Fire fang on that Raticate!" Ash ordered as his Charmander ran forward it's teeth on fire and it prepared to bit the Rat like Pokemon with great heat, only to miss as the Raticate quickly jumped to the side before its trainer said: "Use Sucker Punch!"

Raticate's fist began to glow as it punched Charmander across the face.

"Squirtle, use Rapid Spin!" Gary ordered as his Pokemon tucked into its shell and started spinning towards Machop.

"Grab it, Machop!" the Admin ordered, it then grabbed Squirtle. "Now, Seismic Toss!" Machop them jumped into the air and then dived back down in a pilledrive like fashion hitting the ground with great force making Gary's Squirtle take the full force of it.

The two Starter Pokemon began to stumble around a little from what they had just went thru but eventually got there bearings "I have to admit your little Pokemon have better endurance than I thought..." The Admin chuckled.

"But they're not good enough! Raticate, use Hyperfang and Machop, use Cross Chop," the Admin ordered, and his two Pokemon jumped up to attack the two starter Pokemon

"Charmander, counter it with Metal Claw!"

"Squirtle, use Rapid Spin!"

Charmander's claws collided with Raticate's teeth as Squirtle collided against the Machop's arms.

The collision of the four attacks created a small, but powerful shockwave that pushed the Pokemon back.

"Get up you imbeciles, and attack!" the Admin yelled at his Pokemon

"Come on Charmander, you need to get up!" Ash said to Charmander with more concern

"You too Squirtle, we can can't let this guy win!" Gary said with the same amount of concern Ash had.

Soon all four Pokemon managed to pull themselves up. Exsouted from the damage they had taken, but were willing to fight until they collapsed for their trainers.

"Now, why don't we switch things up a bit? Machop, use Focus Blast on that Charmander, and Raticate use Shadowball on that Squirtle!" Both the Admin's Pokemon shot projectile attacks.

"Charmander, counter it with Ember!"

"Squirtle, do the same with Water Gun!"

Both Ash and Gary's Pokemon used their own projectile attacks. At first, Charmander's Ember bounced harmlessly off the energy ball, but Charmander kept on firing at it until eventually a stream of fire showed from its mouth, dissolving the focus blast and engulfing Machop.

As soon as the flames died down, the Admin's Machop was charred black, and let out a little cough before falling over on its back, and this time it didn't get up. "What? No!" The Admin yelled.

"Charmander, you just learned Flamethrower!" Ash cheered as Charmander also cheered with joy as well.

Meanwhile Gary's Squirtle manage to push Raticate's Shadow Ball right back at it, knocking it out. "Yes! Well done Squirtle!"

"Squirtle, Squirt!" The Squirtle agreed.

The Admin fell to his knees as he returned his Pokemon to there Pokeballs. Ash and Gary did the same and approached their opponent. "Alright, we won now hand over what you stole!" Ash demanded.

The Admin bowed his head in shame then reach into his pocket and pulled out was looked like a floppy disk. Ash snatched it out of his Hands and inspected it for a bit "Wait, what is this?" Ash asked him.

"It's a data cartridge on a rare Pokemon, " he explained.

Ash and Gary looked at each other for a bit "Where did you..." But they turned back to him only to find him gone.

"Well, that's just great, he disappeared!" Gary said, a little aggravated.

"Now how are we supposed to find out who this belongs to?" Ash groaned.

"I have an idea, " Gary said as he pulled out a Pokeball and released his Growlithe. He then grabbed the data cartridge from Ash's hand, knelt down, and held in front of his Growlithe. The puppy Pokemon sniffed it before heading off in the detection the sent had come from. "I think he's found out, come on let's go!" Gary yelled as he and Ash followed Growlithe.

* * *

Ash and Gary followed Growlithe until it stopped at a beach house and began barking. "This must be it," Ash muttered.

"Only one way to find out!" replied Gary as he returned his Growlith to its Pokeball. the two of them entered the house and were surprised to find it a mess it was dark and items were scattered all over the flood "hello Ash called out" but there was no answer.

"Could no one be home?" wondered Ash.

That question was then awarded by a thumping noise coming from upstairs. "That might be our guy!" Gary said as he and Ash claimed the stairs until they reached the top, finding the door the noise was coming from. Gary jiggled the doorknob but it wouldn't budge, that is until he started bashing into it with his body before finally the door opened and Gary stumbled, in falling on the floor.

But when Gary looked up his eyes widened at what stood in front of him "Whoa, is that a really Kabutops!?" Ash said in amazement. Sure enough, standing right there was what looked like a Kabutops but oddly enough it was constantly bumping into things, and even stranger, it talked.

"Is someone there?" It asked, Ash and Gary gasped in shock and surprise.

"Did that Pokemon just talk!?" Gary exclaimed in disbelief.

"I'm not a Pokemon now would you please help me out of this thing?" The 'Kabutops' requested.

"I see it!" said Ash.

He then walked over and unzipped the back of the costume and helped pull it off, revealing the person under it to be a man in his early thirties, having brown hair, a light blue dress shirt with a dark blue tie and green pants. "Thank you! I've been stuck in that thing for an hour." He explained.

"Whoa, really?" asked Ash.

"Yeah, some thug broke into my house and trapped me in that thing!" The man elaborated.

"Well, you don't have to worried about that guy we took care of him," Gary replied.

"Yeah!" said Ash. "By the way, who are you?"

"The names Bill," the man said, "what about you two?"

"I'm Ash Ketchum, from Pallet Town."

"And I'm Gary Oak also from Pallet Town."

"Oak? You wouldn't happen to be related to Professor Samuel Oak, would you?" Bill asked.

"Yeah, he's my grandfather," Gary said.

"You know him?" Ash asked.

"Of course I do! He's one of the greatest Pokemon researchers of all time!" Bill responded.

"It seems my family fame precedes me," Gary sneeered to Ash with a sly grin.

"And you," Bill then pointed to Ash, "you said your last name was Ketchum right?"

Ash just nodded "you wouldn't happen to be the son of Satoshi Ketchem wound you?"

"Yes!" Ash replied, "You've heard of my dad?"

"Of course I do, he was one of the greatest Pokemon trainers I ever met!" Bill went on while Ash gave Gary a smug smile. "Well, now that we got the introductions out of the way, mind if I address the Donphan in the room? Did that thug steal anything from me?" Bill wondered.

"Yeah, he did," Gary said handing the data card to him.

"Oh, thank goodness I don't know what I would do if this was taken!"

"What is it anyway?"

"It's data on the legendary Pokemon, Mew," Bill said.

"Mew?" both Ash and Gary questioned in unison.

"Yes, it is said to be one of the most powerful Pokemon to exist, and that it contains the DNA of every type of Pokemon." Bill went on.

"Hey wait I remember! One of those Team Rocket girls mentioned Mew when I was at the Nugget Bridge." Ash exclaimed, Bill and Gary were both surprised by this.

"I see, so they must be looking for Mew as well."

"But why would they steal your data card?" Ash asked.

"Well you see, most people don't believe that Mew exists, but I, however, have dedicated most of my research to find definitive proof of Mews existence!" As Bill when on Pikachu noticed something moving around he didn't get a clear look at it as it seemed to be invisible. The only way Pikachu was able to tell it was there was through brief shimmers.

Out of curiosity, Pikachu decided to follow it, Gary's Eevee wondering where Pikachu was going decided to follow him. "Pi?" Pikachu trailed the shimmer out on the beach and looked around to see where it went until he turned around and jumped at the appearance of a pink, cat-like Pokemon.

"Mew."

"Pika!"

The two Pokemon stared at each other every time Pikachu moved the pink cat moved as well imitating his every action a thing that irritated Pikachu but amused the cat Pokemon. Eevee soon came outside as well, it too was shocked at what it saw and approached this new Pokemon. Curiously, it approached this stranger, and as soon as it got close it began to glow and its shape began to change before turning into a perfect replica of Eevee.

Eevee gasped in shock, this reaction caused the Pink cat Pokemon to giggle.

* * *

Meanwhile, Ash noticed Pikachu was missing.

"Hey, where'd Pikachu go?"

"Eevee's gone too!" Gary exclaimed.

"Pikachu!"

"Eevee!" The two called out to their Pokemon.

* * *

Outside, Pikachu and Eevee were playing with the new Pokemon, however, as soon as they heard their trainers voices, the two Pokémon ran to them. Once the Pink Cat Pokemon saw the two humans, it disappeared as well.

"What where you two doing out here?" Ash asked. Pikachu started to point in the direction of the new Pokemon they found, only to find that it was gone.

"Pika?" It said in confusion

"What is it Pikachu?"

"Everything alright?" asked Bill as he came in from behind.

"yeah but our Pokemon are acting weird," Gary explained, "almost like they've seen a ghost."

"Hmm," thought Bill, with a smile.

* * *

Meanwhile, in an unknown hideout, the Admin known as Capone was standing in front of a desk shaking in fear. The man sitting at the said desk was obscured by shadows on the man's right was another man wearing the same black team rocket uniform Capone was wearing. To the man's left was a tan-colored cat-like Pokemon that was resting its head on his lap while he stroked its head.

"Tell me again how you lost the data tape?" Asked the shrouded man as he stroked his Pokémon's head.

"Well you see sir there were these kids..."

Before he could finish the man slammed his fist on the desk startling him "I don't want to hear about how one of my high ranking men was fouled by a pair of children!" He shouted.

"Sir, I know you must be frustrated in this minor set back in the operation, but I swear it won't happen again!" Capone cried out, stuttering.

"Your right, it won't happen again. Take him away and make sure he's never found" The man said as two guards grabbed the admin by the shoulders and started to drag him off.

"What!? No! Sir, please give me a second chance I beg of you!" His pleading fell on deaf ears as the guards took him away.

As soon as the begging admin was out of sight, the boss turned to the man next to him. "Archer?"

"Yes, sir?" The man responded, loyally.

"It would seem this boy is becoming more of a burden then we originally thought. I want you to find out everything you can on this boy do you understand?"

"Of course, sir," replied the man named Archer.

 **AN: hey guys sorry if this took so long but the people who help me wright these are busy with other thing and I'd hate to be a bother to them so if any one is interested in Helping me please PM me about it. also thank you NK, SneaselXRiolu and ChipmunkOfOz for helping me write this you guys rock.**


	11. Chapter 11

**AN: Hey guys sorry if this took so long been having a bit of writers block but It's hear so enjoy and don't forget to leave a review**

* * *

Ch:11

Ash and Gary awoke the next morning still in Bill's house, as he allowed the two boys to stay the night.

The two got ready to leave while Bill saw them off. "So, I take it you boys will be heading to Vermilion city?" He asked them.

"Sure are," Ash said.

"You know, that gym specializes in electric type Pokemon. Do you two have any ground types?" Ash and Gary just shook their heads.

"Well, my Growlith knows dig so that should be enough," Gary said.

"And what about your Pokemon, Ash? " Bill said turning to the black haired boy.

"Well, I have Pikachu of course, and Charmander, Nidoran, Pidgeotto, Butterfree and Oddish, but none of them know any ground type moves," Ash said.

"Well, you have a Nidoran. Tell me, do you have a Moonstone?" Bill asked.

"Huh? Oh yeah! A boy I met on Mt. Moon gave me one, but why do you ask?" Ash said, sounding confused.

"Well, you see Ash, not all Pokemon can evolve on their own. Some of them require a special type of object." Bill went on, "and if your Nidoran should evolve into a Nidorino, you can use your Moonstone to evolve him into a Nidoking which is a Ground/Poison type" Bill added.I

Ash thought about that.

"Oh, and there's one more thing," Bill then retreated back inside his house and within a few minutes he returned, only this time he had what looked like two tickets in his hand. "Since you boys helped me, and it's almost three days to Vermilion city by foot, I wanted you two to have these." He then handed both Ash and Gary each a ticket.

"Tickets?" Ash and Gary said in unison.

"Yeah, for the S.S. Anne. It's a luxury cruise liner which sails the world, stopping annually in Vermilion City." Bill told them.

"That's awesome!" Ash cheered.

"And convenient." Gary smirked. "So we'll each get there at the same time, and be able to take on Lt. Surge. Of course, he'd take me to fight over you first."

"What's that supposed to mean?" Ash shouted.

"It means I have more of a name, being the grandson of Professor Oak, and you just have a few badges."

"I'll show you! The moment we get to Vermilion, you and I will have a battle! The winner will fight Surge first!"

"Sure, It'll be a nice warm-up!" Gary smirked.

* * *

The two boys wait in line to board the S.S. Anne, along with several well dressed people, some of which had their Pokemon. They waited as the line move forward one group at a time, until finally it got to them. The man up front asked them for their tickets, and they handed them to him.

Once they were on, they went up to the top deck, where there were several passengers and their Pokemon. Somewhere relaxing on deck chairs, others where chatting with each other, there were even some kids play with there Pokemon.

"Yeah. Well I'm going to look around. Maybe see if there's anyone who wants to battle. Smell ya later Ash!" Gary said as he then wandered off, leaving Ash on his own. Once Gary had left, Ash felt it would be a good time to let his own Pokemon out for a bit to allow them to stretch seeing as others have done the same.

Ash then took out all five of his Pokeballs and let out Charmander, Butterfree, Pidgeotto, Nidoran and Oddish

"Okay everyone, stay close. You wouldn't want to get lost now, would you?"

They all nodded and soon started doing there own things. Pidgeotto and Butterfree began to fly around to stretch their wings, while Pikachu, Charmander and Nidoran started to play tag. Ash smiled at the sight of his Pokemon enjoying themselves and having fun. That is, except one. Ash's Oddish was hiding behind its trainers legs, intimidated by all the people around it. Something Ash took notice of.

Ash looked to the sacred grass type. "You okay, Oddish?"

It said nothing and just buried it's face in Ash's leg Ash then knelt down so he could easily pat Oddish on the head. Oddish felt a little more at ease, looking up at its trainer.

That is until a high pitch voice squealed

A young girl, wearing a green dress was briskly coming over to Ash, looking to his leg. "Oh my goodness! An Oddish! How cute!"

This scared the weed Pokemon even more and it hid behind Ash.

Ash looked to his Pokemon, the movement nearly making him fall. "Oddish!"

"Oh, I'm sorry! I didn't mean to scare it."

Ash put his hand up to wave as a reassure gesture. "It's always shy. I'm trying to teach it not to be."

"Oh, I see."

"Come on Oddish, say hi!"

Oddish then slowly made its way out from behind Ash.

The lass knelt down. "See Oddish? I'm not going to hurt you."

She then reached out to let it and instantly Oddish freaked out sprinkling stun spore all over the place causing the girl to pass out and Oddish then made a run for it.

"Oddish come back!"

But Oddish was too far gone to hear him.

Pikachu saw what was happening, and ran to Ash's side along with his other Pokemon

"Come on! We need to go find Oddish!"

But before he could move pikachu pointed at the girl lying unconscious on the floor

"Oh, right..."

* * *

Oddish kept running and eventually stopped to catch its breath, but soon realized that it was suddenly lost. It was scared, seeing all the strange people and Pokémon, yet Ash or any of the others were nowhere to be found. Even more frightened, Oddish felt like crying.

"You think you can take on my Pokémon?"

"I don't think, I know I can!"

Oddish turned to the source of the voices and saw two other humans, one of which it recognized as the boy who made fun of it and Ash at the Cerulean gym, Gary.

"Let's go Pinsir!"

"Growlithe, I choose you!" Gary called out.

The sight of both a Bug and Fire-type Pokemon, which dangerous to Grass-types, made Oddish panic and start unintentionally sending Stun Spore in the direction of the two Pokemon. Growlithe and Pinsir caught a whiff of the Stun Spore and within a few seconds they both passed out, paralyzed from the spores.

"Hey!" The random trainer shouted. "What gives!?"

"I don't know, what the heck is going on?" Gary wondered.

"Ah! There's the problem!" The trainer then pointed at Oddish, who jumped in astonishment.

* * *

After taking the girl to the ship's infirmary, Ash and his Pokémon continued their search for Oddish. Eventually, they took to splitting up to find Oddish. Each went there own ways but stayed close as not to get lost themselves. Nidoran had been sniffing around trying to pick up a sent but had no lead until it picked up something. It wasn't Oddishs scent, but something else entirely that was familiar. He followed it until he came to the sources, a familiar blue Nidoran.

* * *

"What about you guys? Any luck?" Ash asked, with his Pokemon all shaking their heads in response. "Well, we got to keep looking! Oddish has to be around here somewhere we just have to," he hesitated, "wait a minute!"

Ash then looked over the Pokémon that were in front of him and began to do a head count. Charmander, Pikachu, Butterfree, and Pidgeotto. "Where's Nidoran?" Ash inquired. They all looked around but found no sign of the missing Pokémon. "Oh, that's just perfect. First Oddish, now Nidoran's missing!" He could not believe how unlucky he was.

"Nidoran!"

Ash looked up when he heard a voice he was all too familiar and sure enough, it was Leaf looking around frantically. She also had all of her Pokemon out: Bulbasaur, Jigglypuff, Venonat, Sandslash, and a big Bee-looking one that Ash had not seen yet.

"Hey Leaf!" Ash called out to her.

"Ash?"

The two then ran towards each other, however, when they got close the Bee-like Pokemon flew in between then and began pointing its drill-like appendages at Ash as well as its stinger.

"Beedrill!" Leaf scolded. "Stop that!"

"Yeesh, what's wrong with this thing anyway?" Ash asked, sweat rolling down his face over the size of the drills.

"Oh, well, Ash do you remember my Kakuna?"

"The one that would attack me whenever I got too close to you?"

"Yeah!" Leaf replied. "Well as you can see it evolved into a Beedrill."

Ash whimpered in response, seemingly frightened. "Great, not only is it even bigger, but it has drills for hands. As if my luck couldn't get any worse!"

"What do you mean by that?" Leaf inquired.

"My Oddish and Nidoran are missing, and I can't find them anywhere."

With a nervous laugh, Leaf restrained the Beedrill. "Well, that's quite a coincidence, because my Nidoran is missing too."

"What? Do you know where you lost it?"

"No," Leaf sighed, "we must have got separated in a crowd because one minute she was there and the next she was gone!"

"So now we have three missing Pokémon," Ash huffed.

"Well, maybe we can help each other!"

"I'd appreciate that."

"Oddish!" After hearing that peculiar cry, Ash and Leaf looked up and saw and Oddish running towards them.

"Could this be my Oddish?" Ash wondered, in which the Oddish ran and hid behind Ash's legs.

"I guess that answers it," Leaf giggled as Ash knelt down to comfort the little weed Pokemon.

"Oddish, what's wrong?"

"Hey, kid!" A trainer interrupted "Is that your Pokemon!?"

"Er, yeah, why?"

"That little weed of yours just interrupted a battle I was having!" The trainer shouted.

"It did?"

"Yeah! And it's going to pay!" The trainer threatened, frightening the Oddish once more.

"Listen, you're not hurting my Oddish pal! It probably didn't mean any harm!" Pikachu and Ash's other Pokémon then came to Oddish's defense.

"Okay then, I challenge you and your Oddish to a battle!" Ash, Leaf and all their Pokémon gave shocked expressions.

Unsure what to do, Ash then turned to his Oddish, kneeling down and whispering to it. "Do you want to fight Oddish? Because I won't make you do something you don't want to do." The weed Pokémon wasn't certain on what it wanted to do. It looked back at the other trainer and the look on his face was enough to scare Oddish again. That action gave Ash his answer as he then stood up and turned to the other trainer.

"My Oddish doesn't want to fight right now. unless you want to battle me with any of my other Pokemon you can just leave. What do you say to that?"

"I say that makes you a wimpy trainer!" That comment took Ash and Leaf by surprise, offending them both. "If you don't take charge of your Pokémon, they'll never reach their full potential!" The boy just walked away from there, leaving Ash red in the face from rage.

"Who does he think he is? How I want to raise my Pokémon…!"

"Easy Ash, just calm down," Leaf said, "he's not worth it."

"But he is right on some level!"

Ash and Leaf turned and saw Gary standing there. "What are you doing here!?" Leaf demanded to know.

"I was trying to catch that guy and stop him from hurting that Oddish," Gary admitted.

"Really? You were?"

"Yeah. Tour Oddish interrupted a battle we were having and he got mad and started to chase it."

"Wait, your the one he was battling?" Leaf inquired.

"Well duh!" Gary replied. "But seriously if you keep protecting Oddish, it's just going to be afraid its entire life!"

Ash wasn't sure how to respond to this at first until Leaf began talking again. "As much as I hate to admit it, he dose have a point, Ash. You should be trying to teach Oddish how to overcome its fears instead of shielding it from them."

"I got an idea! Why don't you and I have a battle to help train it?" Gary offered. "I'll even give my self a handicap, I'll use my Squirtle sent it's weak against Grass-types."

That was when Leaf remembered why she originally got into this mess. "Ah, maybe later Gary! Right now, Ash and I have some missing Pokémon on the loose!"

"Yeah, Leaf and I can't find our Nidoran."

"Really? Because I just saw a pair of Nidorans running that way." Gary pointed.

"You did!?" They both shouted in unison.

"Where did you see them!?" Ash asked.

"Take us to them!" Leaf demanded.

Startled by their reactions, Gary backed up and rubbed the back of his head. "Alright, alright calm down! Just follow me!"

* * *

The two Nidoran had finally found a place where they could be alone, which happened to be the ship's cargo bay. The two were so thrilled to see each other without any intrusion or interruption from their trainers and they soon began to cuddle a bit.

"Are you sure it's in here?" The two Pokemon stopped their actions at the sound of these mysterious voices which suddenly came about.

"Yes, it has to be in here! I promise you!" Both Pokemon began hid behind a crate when they heard footsteps coming in their direction. Ash's Nidoran poked its head out to take a look and saw two people wearing black uniforms with a big red R on them.

"So what are we looking for again?" The one man asked.

"Just look for the crate that says Silph Co.!"

"Oh," the man then stopped, "wait, what does the Co. stand for?"

"It stands for 'company' you dolt! You know, Silph Company? The big corporation in Saffron City? How could you not know that!?" Both Nidoran tilted their heads in confusion.

"Okay okay, geez! Anyway, what does the boss need these parts for?"

Just as one of the two criminals was about to explain, the blue Nidoran began sniffling. All of the dust from the crates had gotten onto her nostrils, tickling her a little bit. Ash's Nidoran, in a slight panic, tried to cover up the nose of the other Pokémon to stop her from alerting the two to their presence. It seemingly stopped, as Leaf's Nidoran settled down.

… Only for the dust allergy to quickly come back.

"Do-ran!" The blue Nidoran sneezed loudly, startling its companion and startling the two criminals.

"Huh? What was that!?" The woman came out first to examine what was going on, only to be pleasantly surprised. "Oh, looks like someone left their Pokémon running amuck in places where they shouldn't be!"

"They were spying on us!?" The one man gasped.

"Why complain? They're just a pair of weak little Nidoran, which we can catch in the name of Team Rocket and sell off!" The woman then tossed a Pokéball from her belt, sending out a blue jellyfish-like Pokémon. "Tentacool, go! Use Wrap so they can't escape!"

Out of seemingly nowhere, the strange aquatic Pokémon started to bind its tentacles around the two Nidoran, both of which squealed in pain, not sure what to do as they couldn't escape the tight wrap.

* * *

 **AN2: special thanks to NK and SneaselXRioul for editing this for me and to ChipmunkOfOz for helping me wright it**


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